The Polk County Public Health’s Wellness Coalition, the Statewide Health Improvement Partnership (SHIP), University of Minnesota Extension, along with the Early Childhood Initiative are bringing back their summer family events at Castle Park, known as Kids at Castle, starting on Monday, June 13, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The events are open to all ages to come and enjoy outdoor activities.
The Kids at Castle event is a monthly event happening every second Monday of the summer months. Polk County Public Health Wellness Coordinator Amanda Lien explained that the event is focused on encouraging kids and families to connect with the outdoors and help their physical and mental health with physical activity. “The goal of our events at Castle is to encourage the use of that Nature Base Play Space. A lot of the work that we do through SHIP and my work at Polk County Public Health is connecting people with the outdoors and nature. We certainly know that it helps to reduce stress levels and helps kids build strong immune systems,” Polk County Wellness Coordinator Amanda Lien explained. “At any age and point in life, getting connected to nature daily can be a mental health boost, increase our energy, and it adds all sorts of health benefits to your day. So, we’re just sharing that message about the benefits of being active throughout the day and outdoors,” she added.
This series of events at Castle Park will kick off on Monday, June 13, at 5:30 p.m. with a few events planned for the children to participate in, such as a presentation about weather by Big Dan the Weatherman and a Story Trail. “The Story Trail will be featuring the story “Run Wild” by David Covell, which we’re encouraging the people to ditch those digital devices and come and celebrate the joys of being outside,” Wellness Coordinator Amanda Lien explained. “We’ll also be making mud pies; we haven’t done that for a couple of years, but it’s certainly fun to get our hands dirty and in the dirt. And we’ll be creating “Be Well” First Aid Kits for any future outdoor adventurers to encourage kids to be courageous in the outdoors, and sometimes we fall, and we can get back up again,” she added. After this event, the Kids at Castle event will happen again on July 11, August 8, September 12, and finish on October 10 with its annual Boo Run Run event, where the kids will get to play in the park in their Halloween costumes.
The Polk County Public Health has many other events planned for the summer within the many departments of the Public Health Department, such as an upcoming Community Baby Shower, various health clinics like COVID Vaccine and Sexual Health Clinics on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and a Foot Care Clinic at the Golden Link Senior Center in Crookston on June 23. It will also host a Children’s Dental Service at the Polk County Public Health Office on Tuesday, June 28, and Wednesday, June 29, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. “We have a wide variety of services available to the public and our constituents, and this is just one of those services,” Wellness Coordinator Lien explained. “I work specifically in Chronic Disease Prevention, and we’re looking at how do we reduce obesity and the usage of tobacco products and increase mental health and well-being. This is just one of those avenues in which we can encourage the development of kids in nature,” she added. Lien explains that she and the Public Health Department encourage people to come out to enjoy nature and the outdoors and help connect with people in the community to help them with their physical and mental health.
The Kids at Castle event will be held on Monday, June 13, from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. in Castle Park and will be held every second Monday of each month until October. In the case of rain or inclement weather, the Polk County Public Health Department will postpone or schedule a new date for the event later in the month.
