Events That Get Attention, and Attendance
Common success factors for the "Great Godfrey Maze" and Chicago's "Movies in the Parks"
Lynn McClure
IAPD Public Relations Director
Hard to imagine that Godfrey—a farming community
in southwestern Illinois, with a population of 16,000—
has much in common with Chicago.
And how is it that a small park and recreation department with five full-time employees is similar to an agency
providing facilities and services for nearly three million
people? Yet both the Chicago Park District and the
Godley Parks and Recreation Department have initiated a successful event that has blossomed into an annual
affair dedicated to bringing neighbors together.
Movies in the Park
The Chicago Outdoor Film Festival debuted last summer in Grant Park as brainchild of the Chicago Park District. A 50- by 34-foot movie screen was dropped into
the Chicago skyline, blankets were spread, and Dorothy
clicked her heels declaring to an audience that numbered
in the thousands, "there's no place like home."
"To see Dorothy's face among all the people in the park
that night was tremendous," says Angle Amores, press
secretary for the Chicago Park District. "Our staff photographer took some great pictures that we used to market the film series this year."
And the series has grown. In addition to the Chicago
Outdoor Film Festival at Grant Park, the Chicago Park
District has added movies showing in nearly 50 neighborhoods parks this past summer. The fare ranged from
"Star Trek" to "Rugrats in Paris" to "My Dog Skip."
The newly born "Movies in the Parks" film series was
marketed through the Chicago Park District Web site,
press releases distributed to community newspapers, and
at other events sponsored by the park district.
"We have strong relationships with our regional marketing efforts. We have also been able to partner with our
sponsors and other agencies to get the word out," adds
Amores.
And with sponsors like the city of Chicago, HBO, and
Lipton, it's a small wonder that "Movies in the Park" drew
more than 95,000—up from 63,000 in Grant Park last
year.
Still, the best form of marketing was word-of-mouth. It
didn't take long for neighborhoods to inquire when their
turn came for the movies. It was impressive for a neighbor
to walk by open grass in their parks and see the huge screen and hear
the sounds.
"We don't have much open
space in Chicago," says Amores.
"The "Movies in the Park" is successful because it uses the open
space in neighborhood parks to
bring families and neighbors together."
The Great Godfrey Maze
In Godfrey, where there is no
shortage of open space, an annual
fall event commands an attendance nearly the size of the entire
community. "The Great Godfrey
Maze" is situated on seven acres of corn in the Robert E.
Glazebrook Community Park. Two separate mazes are
cut into the shape of a bald eagle with its wings spread.
The Word "Godfrey" is sculpted into the corn on one
side, the word "Illinois" on the other.
The "Great Godfrey Maze" is
located at the Robert E. Glazebrook
Community Park in Godfrey, Ill. The
event that attracts more than
13,000 visitors, which is just a
few thousand shy of the small
town's population.
Nikki Lockhart, recreation supervisor for the Godfrey
September/October 2001 37
Parks and Recreation Department compiled the facts and figures for local
media. According to Lockhart: "If you walked on every path in the maze,
which you try not to do, you would go over 2.6 miles. The walls are about
seven or eight feet tall... however tall the corn is that year. Sometimes a kid
gets lost in there, but we supply them with a bike flag to wave around
above their heads just in case."
The maze opened on September 1 and by the time it closes down the
last weekend in October, Godfrey Parks and Recreation will have played
host to about 14,000 people, nearly 3,000 of which are local school
children on field trips.
The event is promoted by sending flyers to the schools, putting posters
in store windows, and getting information onto bank marquees. But
Godfrey's proximity to St. Louis (just 32 miles north of the Gateway
City) has not hurt attendance. Last year four major TV stations from St.
Louis featured the maze on their morning or evening news. The "Show
Me St. Louis" program camped out in Godfrey for two days doing stories
on the maze.
A media day provided reporters with helicopter rides over the maze
that made for spectacular photos. And the media list has grown. Many
newspapers and radio stations contacted the parks and recreations staff to
inquire about this year's plans.
"Every weekend we have families from Godfrey and the surrounding
area out to try the maze," says Lockhart. "They come more than once
during the event because of some of the special activities we offer that vary from weekend to weekend."
Much like the outdoor movies in Chicago, "The Great Godfrey Maze"
has added attractions in its second year, capitalizing on their success in year
one.
"We have added a new maze engineered for the younger kids, a "corn
crib" sand box filled with corn kernels, and one weekend will feature a country western band, square dancers, food and craft vendors," says
Lockhart.
These two highly successful events, each in their second year of operation, are destined to grow as the word gets out. They each provide wonderful opportunities for families, for neighbors, and for tourists and visitors to the community.
"It doesn't matter if you are in a small district or in Chicago," says
Amores. "We all have a common ground to bring families together. And
when parks were first being built, open space was important because of
the whole concept of how we bring people together."
It's still an important concept. And the little community of Godfrey
knows it just as well as its giant neighbor to the north.
LYNN McCLURE
is the public relations director for the Illinois Association of Park Districts.
38 Illinois Parks and Recreation