We are going to have a chance to have a VIP experience with Santa. We're going to be awarding 10 families an opportunity to come and have hot cocoa and cookies with Santa Claus.
Welcome, everyone to the Growing Goodyear podcast. I'm Tammy Vo with the city of Goodyear.
And I'm Jordan Byrd.
And Jordan, I think there's from at least for me one signal right now that we are definitely in holiday mode. And that is the weather.
Yes, it is starting to get a little chilly, it's starting to get a little crisper in the mornings and evening times definitely feeling fallish as much as Arizona can feel fallish.
And then one other clear sign walking through the stores. You're seeing Christmas trees up. I know there's this question of when is it too early, but man, it's already out there.
Well, if we're using that as the barometer, then I guess the holiday season began in July. Because I feel like that's when I started seeing some of these decorations out there.
So have you started your holiday shopping?
No. Are you crazy? I'm a last minute shopper so yeah, I mean, I still have plenty of time. At least as of right now. What about you?
Yes, I have started if I don't get a start now it's gonna be way, way way too late. So yeah, that's that's on its way. But now's the time really. For the folks who live in the West Valley and a Goodyear. Don't think about shopping yet. Don't think about all these things that you have to do. Because it is event season. Yeah.
And that's especially true here in Goodyear, right. I mean, the next three, four months, it is full on event season. And it's not just events surrounding holidays, there's a lot of new events that are going to be taking place and good year coming up over the next couple of months.
A lot of family friendly events in Jordan for you. Do you remember any events or traditions you did? As a kid that today, you're like, yeah, I remember that I was special to me.
Yeah, I mean, I think that there's definitely, especially as you get closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas time, there are those nostalgic moments that you do remember, but for me, I have kind of over the years, it turned into a little bit of a scrooge when it came to the holidays. But now that I am beginning and having a young family, I'm really looking forward to this upcoming holiday season because now the kids are starting to be the age where they appreciate it and know what's going on. And it really kind of breeds a new sense of life into the holiday season when you have those type of events and those types of memories that you can be making.
Yeah there are traditions, I think, really with with your family, and I'm hoping at least like you, you know, your parents, oh, my, these are traditions that we can kind of develop with the kids as they move forward. And what better place to do that now and good year, then Goodyear Civic Square, where we have so many new events coming not only holiday related, but also non holiday related. But we have this new space that's going to become our city's downtown.
It's going to be the new heart of the city, the new heart of Goodyear. And so to have this type of space and to have this type of place to host these events, I think really is going to help residents of Goodyear build those types of memories that you're talking about.
Absolutely. And we've got the lowdown on all these new events that are going to be happening at Goodyear Civic Square. We're going to talk to Guylene Ozlanski who basically runs the event show here in Goodyear and she's going to tell us all about the new stuff. So so stay tuned for that.
You're also going to hear the details of a special contest that we will be running around Christmas time. Hot cocoa with Santa VIP access Tammy with the big guy. Cocoa pictures meet and greet. A really cool special opportunity for residents here in Goodyear.
That's right and we have a key word that you're going to want to listen for. That's basically going to double your chances to get that VIP access to a Santa.
But before we do all of that it's time now for Fast Five with Guylene.
Guylene, what is your favorite season?
Whoo it has to be summertime. I love the heat. I love bathing suits. I like being out by the pool or at the beach.
Where is someplace you'd like to visit that you haven't been to before?
Oh, I'd love to go to Japan. I think that the culture there is really interesting.
Tell us a celebrity who you'd love to meet.
Can I choose an artist that I would like to meet? Sure. I love to go back in time and meet Gustav Klimt.
What is a hobby that you would like to try someday?
Glassblowing
Outside of Goodyear what is the best event you have ever attended?
I think our Goodyear events are the best events but outside of right answers to the ostrich festival in Chandler is a great event. It's always been fun longtime event that's gone on in the valley forever.
We're talking with Goodyear arts and culture administrator Guylene Ozlanski. Guylene thank you so much for taking the time and joining us here on the Growing Goodyear podcast.
Oh, thank you for having me.
So first of all, let's start with just kind of a broad picture of events in the city of Goodyear, how important is it to the ninth fastest growing city in the nation to host these type of events for the residents and citizens here in the city of Goodyear?
This is a great question because I do really see a lot of value in our special events, you know, we are growing very quickly. But we're very concerned about making sure that we're still paying attention to keeping that small town fill where you know, that sense of community where you get to gather together to get to meet your neighbors meet people that, you know, you see driving around, and you get to come together and have this shared experience. And that's what special events do. We try to plan events that all have unique points of view or activities, everything that you would like to do, hopefully, we're going to have an event out there that you would enjoy to come out and celebrate with your neighbors.
And speaking of those events, it seems like as the years go on, and we continue to grow, we're seeing so many more events take place. And if there's one thing I know we do, and I know a little bit bias, but we do events, really well here, tell us more about like, how many do we do a year is that number going up?
So it's definitely going up, we are growing, we have two types of events, we do community scale events, those are a smaller events. And we have our signature events, which these are large scale events, we do about 22 events per year now. Wow. You know, that's grown from about 12 events in the past. And so we're seeing this, you know, as we have this growth, we want to make sure, again, that we're meeting those needs, and really being responsive to our community and what our community is asking to have. And so it's really great for us to be able to go in and activate events in our ballpark or at our recreation campus or our Goodyear community park. And it's really exciting that we now have Civic Square of this new space, because it's definitely really made for us to be able to plan and activate it with these events.
Speaking of the planning of these events, you have over 20 events a year going on in Goodyear, what goes in to hosting some of these events, how long does it take to prepare to throw some of these events?
So we take about 12 months leading up to the event to really plan it right and have that event to execute it for the public. There's a lot of things, a lot of layers that go into planning events. It's not just the band that you see there, the food trucks that are there, you know, there's logistics, where you know, the parking the you know, making sure that you know, you have all the right tents and tables and everything you need to host an event in a space, their safety, you have to think about we involve our fire department or police department to make sure that we're safe at events, there's permits that you get, there's the marketing for event, he's got to let people know what you're doing and where you're going to be at and then all leads you then to being able to get the greatest band that you want to have there to have those fun bounce houses or projects or you know, art projects that people will be doing. And so we're looking at a 12 month window to plan a great event. So we're continuously planning for what's coming up.
The people in Goodyear have longed for a downtown for a long time we now have it Goodyear Civic Square. It's amazing. It's a great moment in time for our city. In terms of events Guylene what does that mean for for our residents now having this future downtown in a place where our events can kind of call home.
From our team we are really excited about it you I'm sure everyone your hopefully your listeners have heard us call this the heart of good year. And it truly has become our heart of good year. It was intentionally designed to be this destination location for residents, people who are visiting to come to see the best of good year. And so it is set up for us to host everything from movie nights in the park to concerts in park food truck Fridays, we're going to be having our huge holiday event holidays on the square that's all brand new this year. It's gonna be six nights over three weekends in December. I'll encourage everyone to come out in December to come see the square it's going to be decorated beautifully. And so having this space has really given us this additional facility this area to be able to program that is really just ideal for coming out together with one another.
Let's talk a little bit about some of those new events that are going to be taking place at Goodyear Civic Park. You mentioned what's going on around Christmas time which is very exciting. I think one of the highlights for residents is going to be the outdoor ice rink that will be in Goodyear Civic Park. How do you have an ice rink in Arizona regardless if it's December or not? But how was that physically possible?
So our rink will be a synthetic ice rink this year. And it's possible because we have the space to set it up. We're very excited that rink will open up on December 2, and there will be ice skating sessions available from December 2 all the way through January 8, that will be a free experience for our residents to come out. They'll just be able to register for their time to reserve their time space. And it's going to be just a lot of fun to be in front of City Hall, in your ice skates, all this great holiday decor, it's going to feel like its own little winter wonderland in the desert.
And as we move through the calendar into that the Superbowl time, I know everyone's going to be excited about that. And we of course here in Goodyear, are partnering city with Arizona Super Bowl host committee. And we are having our own Game On Goodyear event. Tell us a little bit about what's going to happen there.
Yes, so this is a great time, you know, having the Super Bowl come to the valley is really fun. There's a lot of excitement around that. And we want to make sure we're part of that excitement. So you know, as you shared, we've got this great game on good your branding and part of game on good year will be a block party that we will have here at Civic Square Park on the Saturday, February 11, the day before the big game Super Bowl. And so it's going to be a lot of fun, there's going to be great activities for adults for kids, we will have some immersive experiences for you know, people to try out some different football activities, we're gonna have some great food and entertainment, we'll have some screens playing some football clips and football greats, we're gonna have a beer garden with lawn games for people to come out and just relax and enjoy a football themed event. One of the things that our team is really excited about is our good year style halftime show, we're going to be involving our local schools, high schools in that so that our marching bands and cheerleaders and our football players can get out here and show us what they've got. And so it's going to be a great time to come out and experience the square if you haven't already been out there. And to really be part of the Super Bowl excitement.
And I love that we're going to be having these selfie moments and opportunities for people to come and take some pictures, put it on their feeds and interact with not only these exhibits, but also our giant LVII letters that are of course representative of this year's Super Bowl, which is in the valley, I think that's just going to be a great photo opportunity.
It will be so we really encourage people that photo option you're talking about will be installed in early December. So we'll encourage everybody to come out to the square stop in and get their picture with the LVII It'll be a great moment.
I think one of the cool things about the events that are upcoming in the park here at Goodyear Civic Square, is that there's really something for everyone. I mean, we've been talking about what's going to be happening in December, the Game On Goodyear surrounding the Super Bowl, but there are still a lot of events that are a lot of new events that are going to be taking place like square dancing. You mentioned the food trucks Friday's, it really seems like a wide array of different types of events. So if something may not be your cup of tea, you may just have to wait to the next week. And then there will be something that is of interest to you as a resident?
Oh yes, definitely. When we come into the spring, we're looking at bringing in farmers markets into the square, we have a yoga festival coming up, you mentioned square dancing, we're actually looking at having some different events around dancing so that people can get up and move. You know, one of the things we're looking to do at our events is really to have events that encourage people to be able to participate and get out and do something, try something. And so there's a lot of exciting things coming up. I'd encourage everybody to either they can visit us on the web at Goodyear az.gov/events to look to see what events are upcoming. They also can get the most recent and up to date information or our social media, if they just visit us at good year Parks and Rec. That's where you're going to get you know, get the inside scoop you know the Know Before You Go and anything that gets updated as we lead up to events, it's a great place to get information about all the great things happening in Goodyear.
Let's talk Fall Festival. Great event, but what's new this year, a fall festival that maybe people haven't experienced before.
Yeah, we're really excited. You know, it's coming right up. And there are some new things that you know, we're always looking at ways to tweak the signature events. So it's something exciting especially for folks that have come year after year. So this year we're going to be having a haunted trail. If you visited Fall Festival you've been there and you know that we put a lot of the activities up on the concourse level. Well this year the concourse level is 360 degrees. There's something to do all the way around the whole stadium and that haunted trail will be on the backside of that there'll be two experiences first when you enter is very family friendly, and then you can exit out. But if you dare, you can continue on for a little bit more of a scare.
I think I'll be the one exiting early out of that one.
Another really fun activity that we've got planned is our boo bash dance party, we're going to have a band and a dance floor. And we'll be encouraging people to get out there and dance a little with the band. But we also have some of our dance community partners from Goodyear that they'll be doing some performances out there as well so that you can kind of see what our youth are doing in the dance world.
So that's the Fall Festival October 29. At Goodyear Ballpark. What is going on events wise in the city, between the Fall Festival and maybe when some of those Christmas holiday time events start springing up at the beginning part of December, what's going on in November inside of Goodyear?
Yeah so with Fall Festival kicking off we are in event time of the year, we have lots of events coming up. So in November, we have two things that I would really encourage people to come out to do. And both of them are here at Civic Square Park, one being our Veterans Day Festival. So on November 11, it will be a great time for you to come out of the park to listen to a couple bands that we have playing. So we have some great food trucks, we have our flag garden where you can plant a flag in honor of a veteran. And leading up to that Veterans Day that week leading up to Veterans Day, we're going to have 10 artists on site in the park painting live patriotic themed murals, there'll be 10 murals created. So even if you can't make it on November 11, please stop out at the square and you can talk to an artist and see this artwork as it comes alive for the event. And then we also have our food truck Fridays. So the Fridays in November, you can come out we'll have eight food trucks out here on the square, we have live music playing. And so please come on out and try some new cuisine. Bring your chair and your blanket and sit out in the grass, the weather's gonna be beautiful. It'll be a lot of fun.
So Guylene, after events, it must be so important for you to hear back from the public in terms of did they like the event? Or what can we do differently? Are there opportunities for people to actually, you know, weigh in on that?
There are and we highly encourage our residents and our visitors to complete our surveys. When you're leaving, you're going to see someplace, there's a QR code that says, hey, tell us what you think. And we do really take that to heart, we really like to hear back from our residents to hear what they liked about an event what they'd like to see in future events. Because we're always adapting, you know, we always want to be keeping our events fresh, and bringing things to the public that they would like to see, we really see that events improve the quality of life for our residents, and good year, and we want to do the best that we can do. So that we're addressing those needs.
I think it really is a testament to what is going on in this city, not only with the growth that we hear all the time with being the ninth fastest growing city, but we're having as a city, these events too, as you the phrase you use quality of life, it really adds to the experience of being a resident in Goodyear to have these type of events. And then I mean, I can't help but think for myself and my family, we have small child, another one on the way you're making memories that are going to last a lifetime at these events that are taking place right in your own city.
That's what we're striving to do. So that's why the surveys are important so that we're making sure that we are doing that. But I completely agree with you, Jordan, that idea of building sense of community, improving quality of life. Those are our main goals when we're planning these events. So we really encourage everyone to share their feedback, come out to events, try them out, come out to more than one event at all of our different venues. It's really a great time and it's it's just nice to be able to again, spend time with one another and have that shared experience.
Guylene, I think our residents are gonna be super excited about an opportunity to get some what VIP access with Santa this this winter?
Yes, so we're really excited. On our first night of our holidays on the square, which is December 2, we're going to have a chance to have a VIP experience with Santa. We're going to be awarding 10 families an opportunity to come and have hot cocoa and cookies with Santa Claus and have their picture taken with him. Cool. Yeah, it is really cool because that is the night that we officially light our tree to start the season. So we're really excited to have a contest to get these 10 families out here for this experience.
And how do people enter in to win this VIP experience with Santa?
So we encourage people to come out to one of our upcoming events. You know, each of our events, there is always a photo op at it everywhere you go. We always believe to create memories. It's a great time to get a picture with the fam, and you know, show where you were and remember the event. So to enter to win this contest, you will visit one of the following three events Fall Festival on October 29, or Veterans Day Festival on November 11, or one of the Friday food truck nights on November 18, or November 25. At those events, you go and you visit the photo op area, you take a picture with the family, and you can post it on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, using hashtag hot cocoa was Santa that will introduce you when now if you happen to go to all four of those events, then you will be entered four times into the contest. So the more events you attend, the more chances of winning you have.
What do you all think if we upped the stakes a little bit? I'm intrigued. What do you think about if they add the hashtag growing good year, which is the name of our podcasts on to that post? They're going to double their chance to win. I like it.
I like it. That sounds great.
Let's do it. Yeah. All right. Guylene, thank you again, so much for joining us today on the podcast and explaining a little bit about what you and your department does, and just how you guys put on these amazing events. Month after month, year after year. We really appreciate you adding your insight and your knowledge on this topic. Thank you so much.
Thank you very much for having me.
Wow, Jordan, that sounds awesome. And you know, what I love about it is that you actually are going to get some time with Santa more than you know, you go take pictures with Santa, let's say at the mall or wherever you your kids get maybe a minute with Santa cuddle call. Yeah, it really is. So this is going to be special.
Yeah, I mean, to have this one on one opportunity and to be able to enter into this contest. By going out and experiencing the other events that are taking place here in Goodyear by going to the Fall Festival by going to the Veterans Day event by going to the food truck Fridays, you're already having a great time at these events. But by taking a selfie in front of these photo opportunities, and putting the hashtag hot cocoa was Santa. And the extra incentive putting the hashtag growing good year, you're making memories at these awesome events already. But now you're entered in to win this very cool and unique VIP access to Santa Claus. It's gonna be awesome.
So whether you are part of the contest or not just know that you know, in Goodyear, it is absolutely a priority of the city, the mayor and council of leadership of our events team to make sure that as nations ninth fastest growing city we are providing all the amenities that our residents yearn for not only our residents, but just the whole West Valley. There's such an opportunity here, Jordan in the West Valley, for people to be part of this growing city and all the events that we have to offer. And as you heard today, there are so many on tap for the city that it really, really is exciting.
And I think the biggest thing that stood out to me through this episode is even if a certain event may not be up your alley, all you need to do is wait another week or so. And there's going to be another event rolling around. That could be right in your wheelhouse. So really there is an event for everyone in Goodyear, whether it's all of them, or maybe just a handful that really seemed to be of interest to you. There is something for everyone with the events upcoming here in Goodyear.
I know there was a lot to hear today. So if you head to our website, Goodyear az.gov/events You're gonna find all the listings of events coming up there in the next several months and well into next year. So we hope you'll be able to join us for the events. And we hope you are excited as we are here at the city of Goodyear. Thanks so much for listening to this. And just remember, especially now it's a great time to be in Goodyear.
That concludes this episode of Growing good year. Make sure to leave us a review and subscribe on your favorite streaming or podcast player app. If you have any questions or comments, email us at communications at Goodyear az.gov And don't forget to follow us on the city of good years social media pages
