Taking the summer “30/60 Play Challenge”

Since summer vacation is soon coming to a close and school is just around the corner, it seems like a good time to look back and reflect on what an amazing break it’s been. We’re more settled in than ever, and starting to feel really comfortable in our new home. The weather has been pretty amazing, we’ve had a lot of fun adventures, and the kids have been having an absolute blast…and a big part of that was thanks to the folks at Burlington’s Parks & Recreation department.

Designing summer programs to get residents up, out, and active isn’t anything new for the city, in fact just last year they publicized a pretty neat list of 150 things to do (as the entire country celebrated Canada 150). I remember because it proved a useful research tool while reading up on Burlington from afar. This year, they decided to put a fun spin on things by creating a game for people to play, using the popular Goose Chase scavenger hunt app for smartphones.

The pitch was simple, download the free app and sign up to take the Burlington 30/60 Play Challenge, then try to complete at least 30 “mission” goals within a 60 day period of summer. Each mission was designed to get Burlington natives outside and active and exploring their community. They ranged from visiting particular parks and trying out particular activities to attending concerts and events to even more challenging goals like hiking up mountains or finding locations that required some problem solving skills (like locating a piece of public art, or hunting down an architectural feature).

It seems like ages ago now, but when the summer began and that game was just getting started, I remember hearing about it vaguely but being too distracted with other concerns to take interest initially. The school year was coming to an end, and besides whatever other excitement or stress that usually involves, so many of the connections we (and our kids) had made in our new community revolved around interactions with friends and neighbours at the schoolyard every day. Sure, the sun was coming out and the lake was warming up and pools were set to open…but I was actually feeling a little apprehensive. Would we manage to stay in touch with all these new folks? What would the kids and I do every day?

Well, shortly after wrapping up the school’s end of year picnic and kindergarten graduation, some of the other parents I’d met through school council texted me and asked “hey, do you want to play this goofy game with us?” Apparently a couple of them had gotten into it and were having so much fun being competitive that they’d started two teams, loosely based on which side of the neighbourhood folks lived on. I noticed a bunch of the missions involved parks and activities with which my kids and I were already familiar, and within a few hours we’d “scored” a bunch of points just by snapping photos during our usual sunny day routine. It got addictive pretty quickly!

Before long, we’d run out of stuff to go hunt down separately, and the outstanding missions included stuff like organizing a community picnic. So sure enough, a bunch of families from each team got together and brought a bunch of pizzas and fruit and juice boxes to the nearest parks and started hanging out…and after doing it once just to score points, we had such a great time that we started doing it every other week or so all summer long! Meanwhile, so many teams and families joined the challenge that all those tied for first place kept finishing all the missions, and the folks at the city had to keep inventing new ones and adding them to the app.

We ended up exploring parts of town we’d never been to, discovering parks, pools, beaches, playgrounds, and all kinds of beautiful natural areas we hadn’t checked out yet. Sometimes we even spied other teams out there snapping photos and videos of the same activities, events, and wildlife that we were hunting and introduced ourselves to each other. The kids and I had a ton of fun, and with all the hiking and biking involved (especially when mommy needed the car for work) we all got a ton of exercise too.

When the contest eventually wrapped up, the two teams from our elementary school found each other tied among the first place finishers, and much to my surprise we landed quite a prize package, including some pretty nice fitness bands and some valuable Parks & Recreation coupons!

Every family on our team got a fitbit, and those coupons will pay for a lot of swimming!

I was so impressed by the whole program that I wrote an appreciative letter to the city that they ended up quoting in a press release. The “challenge” wasn’t quite over for us yet, however. One of the final mission goals had been to apply to a grant program the city started back in 2015 called Love My Hood, the aim of which is to encourage citizens to organize their own community events (and hook them up with some matching funds from the government to help with expenses).

Both our friends’ teams had their applications approved, and so to cap off the summer, on consecutive weekends they threw a pair of well attended block parties! Streets were closed down, kids ran around everywhere enjoying all the front yards on which neighbours had set out toys and games, there was tons of barbecuing and plenty of food and drink, and with the extra funds they rented huge bouncy castles for the little ones to go nuts in. How cool is that?

Folks from all over town came to the block parties (some local politicians too).

I realize that Burlington, Ontario, or even Canada doesn’t have the market cornered on valuing community, but this simple idea from a city department that makes concerted efforts to keep people healthy and bring folks together speaks volumes about the priorities we feel evidenced in our daily lives here. It also occurred to me, as neighbours and I were sweeping up water balloons after one of the street parties, that these relatively minor investments probably pay themselves back many times over when you consider how neighbours who get to know each other can lean on one another for various needs, making the delivery and cost of all kinds of social services more efficient.

In another week when school begins, we’ll all be focused on a whole new set of goals, but I have to say I’m definitely looking forward to next summer too…the folks who responded to my letter assure me that the city is planning to make this challenge an annual event, and that next year’s “missions” will be even more challenging. Our team is ready, Burlington, bring it on and we’ll be back!