The Forest Park Public Library is publishing a calendar for the community to list special events going on around town.
Although the library has had a calendar just for its events, the community calendar will feature happenings around the whole village, all in the same place.
Library officials said they started thinking about the calendar as a way to work with its community partners, such as the village, community center, park district and District 91.
“We have been hearing for years from the community about the need for a centralized calendar to find out what is going on in Forest Park,” said Alicia Hammond, the library’s community engagement manager.
The calendar comes as some local organizations have been organizing events on the same day.
“The community center, park district, PTO will have an event catered for all the same age range on the same night,” said Eboni Murray, treasurer of the library’s board of trustees, at a July 15 board meeting. “We saw it so many times.”
So, in late spring, the library developed a calendar with its community partners and featured events from just those organizations.
In the coming weeks, events from more organizations will start appearing on the calendar.
The library’s trustees have outlined a few stipulations for the calendar, since anyone can submit an event for the library to review before adding it to the online calendar. If an event doesn’t follow eligibility requirements, library staff will follow up with the person who submitted it.
The event must be open to the general public and located in Forest Park, although events that are in collaboration with Forest Park and take place outside the village will be allowed.
The event has to be hosted by one of the following groups: village government agency; government-affiliated organization; those eligible for village funding or community grants; school; or a business, nonprofit or club operating within the village.
The calendar would not be for commercial purposes, such as advertising for a for-profit business, or to promote anything discriminatory. Submitted events also shouldn’t be politically partisan in nature.
Board members said they recognize that there might be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to navigating which events to accept and encouraging locals to use the calendar.
“Right now, our biggest concern is getting people to use it,” said Library Director Vicki Rakowski.
But once the community knows about the calendar, there should be no shortage of local events to choose from on the library’s website.
“This town has so much good stuff and a lot of great people,” Rakowski added. “Helping amplify that stuff, that’s the purpose.”
Visit the community calendar and submit an event for review at https://cc.fppl.org/.