At its conception many years ago, the Town of Erie was characterized as a small mining town with a miniscule population. 150 years later, the town has grown into the large and prosperous suburban community we now know it as. The Town of Erie has a lot of features to celebrate, one of them being the wide array of festivities that take place. From Boo! On Briggs Street in the fall to the fireworks shows in July, Erie is home to many exciting traditions and continues to grow and improve its lineup of events with each passing year.
Brandon Grasmick has worked as the Recreation Coordinator for the Town of Erie’s Parks and Recreation Department for the past five years. He oversees more than fifteen of the town’s large-scale events, including Tales and Ales, Boo! On Briggs Street, the annual fireworks show, and Touch a Truck, as well as several smaller events. He also oversees the external event permit process which allows other organizations to put on events that the town recognizes.
Grasmick explains that Erie’s rapid residential growth has ushered in some logistical developments when it comes to the scale and location of many events. “Our fireworks show was once settled at Colorado National Golf Course, and we have since moved to our Erie Community Center”, he describes. “Boo! On Briggs Street actually started as a trunk or treat event here on [the Community Center] campus, and has since moved downtown. We bring in a DJ, and a mobile stage, and music, and have live entertainment throughout the event as well.” He elaborates.
Marketing to encourage engagement is a primary initiative that helps to sustain Erie’s festivities. “We have several marketing outlets that we use, whether it’s social media, on-site signs here at the Erie Community Center or some of our other facilities,” Grasmick shares. “Sometimes we get a little creative and have little cut-outs of people or have QR codes out there. We also utilize our sponsors since they can share our flyers as well. We just do our best to do outreach as much as we can so that we can bring in more people to our events.”
As Erie’s festivities have evolved over the years, so too have the organizational challenges the town must face. “Coming up with a traffic control plan, or managing people at the event, or a parking plan” were just a few Grasmic identified. He elaborates, “Some people like to call special event coordinators ‘control freaks’ and it’s because we see every aspect of the event. We think of the good things that can happen as well as the bad things…we think of every possible scenario, which sometimes can get exhausting. But it’s also very rewarding since we provide a lot of fun for our community and connections for people to make.”
In addition to working out managerial challenges prior to events, volunteers and town workers play an integral role in getting celebrations rolling when it counts. “I could not do it without the help of our full-time staff, our part-time staff, as well as volunteers who help out with our events.” Grasmick describes. Often responsible for tasks like the check in booths, kids activities, or other active roles, volunteers and employees of the town support all of Erie’s visions by executing meaningful positions. “We’re thankful for all of their support as some of our events require large amounts of staff to put on.” Grasmick concludes. (For those interested in volunteering to cooperate with these events, or in other areas such as support coaching or summer camp counseling, erieco.gov/volunteers provides the opportunity to get involved.)
Local businesses and sponsors also have the opportunity to partake in the fun. Grasmick cites an in-depth sponsorship package, which allows businesses to work with the town. “We’re very grateful for all of our sponsors and partners that participate, whether they help financially or through kind support. We have several businesses that actually run certain aspects of our event for us, and that is extremely helpful. It saves us time and also gets them involved in the community, allowing them to connect with their target audience as well.”
Safety is a major priority among the Town of Erie, verified with a robust emergency action plan put in place at each event. “There’s a lot of thought that goes into creating this plan of action at all of our events,” Grasmick ensures, “it’s reviewed by our police department and a lot of our full-time staff including our safety committee here at the Parks and Rec department. We ensure the safety of all of our event participants, but also of our staff.” Especially for the larger-scale events, Erie’s police department is also present from the get-go equipped with their own action plans for responding to a variety of possible emergencies.
Grasmick jokes that most of his most notable memories from running special events are those of failures, (learning experiences, in other words…) however, he has just as many fulfilling experiences to look back on as well. He recalls 2019 as his very first year running Erie’s “Touch a Truck” event, in which 20+ firetrucks, mixers, ambulances, and other exciting vehicles visit the town for an up-close view, generating an astounding amount of attendance. “When we put on this first-time event, we had over a thousand people participate, and that’s very rare for special events, that doesn’t happen. Usually it’s more of a slow build over the years.” Touch a Truck remains one of Erie’s most popular festivities years later.
Erie has several metrics to gauge the success of its events. Grasmick cites softwares designed to track participation across individual areas of each event in addition to overall number of attendees. “We also have several surveys that go out to all of our event participants that we definitely review. We also have an internal evaluation form to make notes of improvement for each year, and we always look at those notes before even planning for the next year.” Grasmick and the entire Town of Erie “take a lot of pride in offering the best events for [the] community every year”.
To conclude his thoughts, Grasmick offered some statements regarding the prospective future for Erie’s continual event expansion. “As we continue to grow and more people want to host events in our beautiful town, I think there’s a bunch of challenges that are up ahead, but we’re trying to be proactive in our approach and create policies and procedures to help us.”
“I just truly love my job here, and being able to offer these events for our community. I’m very thankful to share what we have going on in our Parks and Rec department and also for the full town.” Grasmick concludes. He encourages readers to visit upcoming events, including the Arbor Day and Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 27th, the Cultural Caravan Performance by Emil Trio on Thursday, May 9th, and many others…all accessible on erieco.gov/calendar.
The array of successful events within the Town of Erie highlight the importance of thoughtful planning, fostering opportunities for engagement, and prioritizing intentional safety and environmental goals as crucial aspects to a positive, connected town. As Erie looks towards its future, it’s evident that the town is committed to maintaining these core values while making them even better every time.
