It’s fall! Fall is my favorite season. The cool mornings and evenings with warm days. Perfect Minnesota weather.

The other day I had a conversation with a member. The member was sharing that they didn’t realize how many activities we did down here, they thought it was just cards. Oh no — there is so much more. So we continued our conversation. They suggested listing everything we do out there so everyone would know. I shared that it is in the Independent, our newsletter, website and on Facebook. We also talked about knowing what is happening somewhere is a two-way street, there is seeking out information and getting the information and the organization promoting it within the community.

The conversation had me thinking that there are a lot of different activities and many different participants each with different interests. So here is a quick category breakdown of the activities that we do.

Fitness: Flex & Stretch, Bone Builders, bean bags, pool, golf, coffee club walkers, Fitness Fridays and Work It Wednesdays

Health: Blood pressure, Foot Clinic, flu shots, Parkinson’s support group, Healthy Lifestyles

Educational/informational: Coffee with Cops, Sheriff, Tech U, historical presentations on Mn, Gold College, tours of local businesses and parks, drivers Safety classes, etc.

Social: Mature Seniors, Newsletter mailings, volunteer coffee, book club, three or four special events every month that focus on a variety of topics, from living wills to what town is that to musical entertainment, etc.

Cards and games: pepper, 500, mah jongg, dominos, bien, bridge, bingo, ponytail canasta, whist, double deck pinochle, Yahtzee and sometimes a pick up game of Skip-Bo or cribbage.

We average around 2,500 participants every month at the variety of activities. Our top five activities through August are as follows

Special/educational events: 2253

Pepper: 1235

Flex & Stretch: 1200

Coffee Club Walkers: 688

500 cards: 548

I always find this statistic interesting, as it shows the wide variety of interest within our membership.

Let me know if you have any other thoughts or questions.