Doug Donahoo: This is the Shawnee Pulse Podcast. Hello, I'm Doug Donahoo, communications director for the City of Shawnee, bringing you this monthly look at behind the scenes of all things happening with the city, and we are starting to get. Into construction season. Uh, the weather's getting warmer. You've probably already seen me of the public works crews from around the city getting out, working on road repairs, working on sidewalk repairs, just doing everything they can to make life better. 

But the reality is that our public works crews are busy all year round of, we know it from February, January, and February this winter with the snowplows and everything happening there. And we want to talk about what happens year-round. But especially this summer as the Shawnee Public Works crew gets ready to take on a big project, the mill and overlay of Shawnee Mission Parkway. 

Who better to talk all things public works, to talk all things mill and overlay than our very own public works director, Kevin Manning. 

Kevin Manning, thank you so much for joining us. Here on the Shawnee Pulse podcast, great to be here. Well, Kevin, let's introduce you first to our listeners here in the city of Shawnee. Uh, stakeholders, residents, uh, whoever it might be. Tell us a little bit about your current role with the city and how you came to, uh, the title of Public Works director. 

Kevin Manning: Sure. My name's Kevin Manning. I've been with the city about nine years, I originally started as the transportation manager and basically that was the city's traffic engineer and then al. I ran the mill overlay program, you are who we have to blame for all the traffic. You got it. Okay.  gimme a call anytime you have an issue. 

 yeah, I, I, uh, worked about five years in that role and then, uh, about four years ago, uh, was promoted to the Deputy Public Works Director under the previous Public Works director, Doug Whitaker. Spent about four years in that role and then, uh, Doug recently retired in the last fall, and I moved up to the Public Works director role at that time. 

Doug Donahoo: Okay, great. Uh, what about before arriving at the City of Shawnee? You obviously, uh, have been doing this job for a number of years, as 

you said, with the city, but what about, what about before you walked into city Hall? 

Kevin Manning: Yeah,  previous to my time at the city of Shawnee, I had about 10 years of additional experience. 

I worked for about six years in the mid Misuri Department of Transportation, primarily focused more on the traffic engineering sphere. And then I worked, uh, about four or five years. And, uh, private consulting. 

Doug Donahoo: Take us through traffic engineering. What does that entail when it comes to working for a Department of Transportation or a public works department at, at the city level? 

Kevin Manning: Sure. When you're looking at traffic engineering, you're basically talking about the operation of traffic signals, um, street lighting, signing striping, and then al like traffic control. And  when you talk about signals, uh, you're talking about making sure, um. Signals are coordinated. Basically people can get from A to B as quickly as possible. 

That can change quite a bit anytime you have new development, um, or new traffic flow patterns. And  that's a big part of traffic engineering is, you know, as traffic patterns change, um, in an area or across the city, being able to kind of be nimble and make those changes, uh, to traffic signals. And then like I mentioned, you know, street lighting, making sure we have adequate lighting on our roadway based on the roadway type. 

And then, um, just, you know, adding signs, um, or pave markings as necessary, um, in compliance with kind of national standards to make sure people can get from A to B as safely as possible. And then al kind of the last aspect for traffic engineering is looking at traffic control and more complex projects. 

Um, that can, that can be very, um. You know, uh, there, there can be a lot of work going into that to make sure that if, you know, lands are closed. Um, where you're shifting traffic around to do, uh, roadway work, making sure that's done safely, um, and, and with, uh, as minimal impact to the traveling public as possible. 

Doug Donahoo: Well, the crew that's responsible for taking all of that work that you do on paper and making it happen out in the real world. Is your Public Works crew, and a lot of people don't quite realize how big a public works department, especially in the size of the city of like Shawnee is. It's the third largest department we have here in the city, correct? 

That is correct, yes.  what does that daily impact on residents in terms of your team and what they're doing? Not just during the summer when we're talking about construction sean, but around all around the year, throughout the calendar? Sure. . We have quite 

Kevin Manning: a few, what I would say, frontline, um, maintenance employees in the public works group. 

And you know, we've got, we've got employees that are in kind of our stormwater group and they will go out and red ditch roadways or they may go out and clean out pipes. We've got. Um, over a hundred miles of pipe that's underground in the city of Shawnee. And , as you can imagine, you know, you have debris getting down on those pipes on a fairly regular basis. 

 we do have kind of three separate stormwater crews that go out and help clean that, you know, clean those pipes out, make sure that's, um, they're operating as they're intended to be. We al have two pavement crews, you know, they're out there primarily patching potholes, taking care of, you know, kind of small repair projects and, and doing me small paving projects as well. 

 we've got two crews doing that. Then we al have a crew, uh, for a ride of way that's out and they do mowing and, um, you know, picking up trash on our roadways, making sure that, um, you know, our roadways look nice, um, as well.  that's a lot of our kind of frontline, uh, crew. Um, we al have a group that maintains, uh, fleet basically maintains a lot of vehicles for the city. 

We maintain our own public works vehicles, but al. Um, police and fire vehicles.  we will, because there are a lot of vehicles for the city of Shawnee there, there's, there's a lot of work to be done. And then obviously with our, our public safety group, it's very important that they have operational vehicles and  that's a high priority for us as well. 

, um, that, that's more of our field staff. And then we al have kind of office staff that work, um, on storm water projects. I work on our ME overlay program, which I think we're going to talk a little bit more about later. Just a bit. Yep. And then, uh, our engineering group that manages a lot of our capital improvement programs as well. 

As well, 

Doug Donahoo: and as we just came through the winter, uh, when the snow starts falling, basically the entire team hops behind the wheel of a snow plower or monitors and manages snowplows as they hit the road. I. 

Kevin Manning: Yeah, that's right. You know, it, it works out well. Obviously during the winter sean, you're not going to be out patching potholes for the most part. 

When it's cold out, you can't do as much work on storm water. And , um, for over those winter months, the primary focus, um, for those for the public works employees is preparing for, and, you know, treating roadways during storms, cleaning up snow. Um, and that's for our field staff, and we al have a lot of office staff that chips in on that, as well as other city departments. 

We actually have, um, people from parks and rec, community development and police and fire, all chip in and, uh, help out removing snow as necessary.  

Doug Donahoo: regardless of the time of the year, the whole purpose of public works, especially when we're talking about streets and sidewalks, is helping people in Shawnee. 

Get around as easily, easily and smoothly as possible, whether that's clearing snow or repairing potholes in the summer, uh, we're talking about making sure that, that the, the, the avenues people use for transportation are accessible and as free flowing as possible. 

Kevin Manning: Yeah, I think that's a good summary. I mean, we're out there to really serve the public and make sure people can get around easily. 

Um, you know, making sure that, you know, we're not dealing with issues with water backing up into people's yards, um, with our stormwater group. And, and al just supporting, um, other departments such as public safety.  Public Works has, you know, a lot of different roles within the city and, uh, definitely plays an important, uh, important role for all of our residents. 

Doug Donahoo: Well, let's talk about a street that plays an important role for. All of the residents and the entire city of Shawnee Shawnee Mission Parkway. It is a big stretch of, uh, roadway that runs basically from the Kansas, Misuri border all the way out to K seven Highway in Western Shawnee. And, uh, we're looking at a big project this summer, aren't we? 

Kevin Manning: Ablutely. , you know, if you've driven out kind of on the west side of Shawnee Mission Parkway, um, recently you probably 

noticed the pavement's not in the best condition. You know, that's mething we're certainly aware of and mething we've kind of been planning for, for several years to have a large project out there. 

, uh, we're, we're in the design right now for a project basically to, um. Millen overlay and reconstruct part of Shawnee Mission Parkway from K seven all the way over to the east to to Laman Road.  it's a huge stretch. 

Doug Donahoo: Well, let's take a step back because you said it's mething that's been on the radar for your team for a number of years. 

How early does that kind of project land on the list of. How far out into the future it's going to be started? 

Kevin Manning: Yeah,  we do, uh, basically roadway inspections every third year where we basically kind of take a look at, um, all of our roadways, what condition they're at, and based on that we start developing lists. 

Um, probably looking. Five or six years into the future in terms of, you know, when a roadway is going to need to have me work done on it. And we've been, you know, like I've said, we're aware of what's going on on Shawnee Mission Parkway, but we've been looking at it for several years and we're kind of at the point where we're ready to move forward with our project. 

Doug Donahoo: And a road like Shawnee Mission Parkway, it's important to the city of Shawnee. It's important to Johnn County as well, and, and a huge chunk of, uh, the metro area. It sees a lot of traffic. 

Kevin Manning: Oh, ablutely. I mean, there's probab, there's tens of thousands of people every day that drive on that section of Shawnee Mission Parkway. 

Um, it's, it's basically the main, uh, east west corridor throughout the entire city. And it's a very important road. Um, and  it is mething that we're excited, you know, we're going to be out there doing this major project and it's going to really provide great service for a lot of people for a long time. 

Doug Donahoo: Talk us through the project then We call it mill and overlay, but that's pretty much a simplification. That's three words to describe a project that is going to take a little bit of time and cover a lot of distance. 

Kevin Manning: Sure. , you know, there's a few facets to this project. Mill and overlay kind of is the big one. 

Um, and what really what that means is when we talk about milling, there's going to be a, a machine that goes out and basically takes off, uh, kind of just shaves off about two inches of asphalt. It's kind of like your top layer that, um, has undergoing the, the most damage over time. And if you're out driving, um, on that roadway, you know. 

Late summer, you're going to see that machine out there basically taking off that top layer of asphalt and that asphalt is recycled. Um, once we do take that, that, that top layer of asphalt, we're kind of looking at the pavement surface underneath what it looks like. Um. If it's in good shape, then we don't need to do any additional work If it's not in good shape, if we're continuing to see cracking or other pavement issues underneath, we may do me basically fold up pavement repairs, and that's when we kind of go in deeper, um, remove me of that pavement and then put kind of a concrete patch back. 

. We've got an idea of locations where we may need to put that, but we won't know for sure until we kind of start milling off and we'll, we'll have our inspectors go out there and make that judgment. Um, once, once that milling is complete, once we do go back and, um, you know, put patch, patch pavement, um, at me point we'll be ready to basically have the new, uh, pavement put on top. 

And  that's essentially the overlay part of the project. Um, when we go back, um, after the mill and actually put back the new surface layer of asphalt, um, that will hopefully last us for about 15 to 20 years moving forward. 

Doug Donahoo: I suppose the good news through all of this is that once the first layer has been removed and that machine goes through. 

Then you can open the road back up as as possible if there aren't other major repairs that need to be done. Talk me through a little bit about what folks can expect as they're driving on Shawnee Mission Parkway this summer. With the work, when the work has started and when it's going on. How are we going to handle traffic control to make sure people can still get where they need to go? 

Even with this project underway. 

Kevin Manning: Sure. And, you know, taking even a, a farther step back, you know, before we do this type of project, we always take a look at the pipes underneath the roadway mm-hmm. And make sure they're in good shape. We obviously don't want to overlay a roadway. And then shortly after, have a pipe fail and we're going back there and repair, repairing the pavement. 

 that'll actually be the first step on this project. Um, that's part of our design process to look at those pipes and there will be me that we replace. And when that occurs. Um, it's possible there could be me, you know, lane closures or even, you know, sections of roadway that are closed to allow us to basically, uh, dig up the road and repair those pipes. 

Um, once that whole process is complete, then we're ready to kind of move on to the meat of the project. And when that occurs, essentially what it will look like, um, we will be milling the shoulders an additional to the roadway pavement. And if they're milling on the shoulders, um, there might be that, you know, if you're milling the right shoulder, there may be the right lane that's closed. 

Uh, more, they may be able to just shift traffic over a little bit, but, uh, there will be sections of Shawnee Mission Parkway that'll be down to one lane each direction as they're kind of moving, um, moving through the entire project and taking that pavement off. 

Doug Donahoo: Well, let's talk a little bit about distance because you said it's from K seven to approximately Lackman. That's about five, five and a half miles of, of driving time or, or, you know, driving distance or as the crow flies. When we talk about point A to point B distance versus lane mile distance, what is that difference, uh, for the Shawnee Mission Parkway mill and overlay project? 

Kevin Manning: Sure. When we talk about lane miles, a lane mile is essentially like, is 12 foot wide of pavement, uh, for the length of one mile. And , as you mentioned, the entire section is about five miles from K seven to Lackman Road, however. 

Most of that pavement is at least essentially eight lanes wide. When you think of like the shoulders being a lane each direction, you have two traveling lanes, and then you have an inside and outside shoulder. Each direction on Haw Mission Parkway, for every, uh, basically mile of roadway, you actually have about eight lane miles at a minimum. 

And then if you're familiar with that area too, you know, as you get out to 4 35, the roadway actually widens out. And  there will actually be me sections 

where for every mile of roadway we may have closer to, you know, 10 lane miles plus, uh, maybe a little bit even more than that.  while we have five total miles of roadway that we're going to be working on, the actual lane miles is going to be closer, probably to 50 total. 

Doug Donahoo: And how much does that per lane mile cost the city with this project? 

Kevin Manning:  typically for the, the mill and overlay itself, we're probably looking at mewhere between 125 and 150,000 per lane mile.  you can imagine over 50 lane miles, it's, it's very substantial. It is very 

Doug Donahoo: substantial. We should mention though, that the mill and overlay is part of the normal, uh, the normal. 

Uh, upkeep and maintenance of a roadway like Shawnee Mission Parkway. If we were talking about not doing this on a regular basis and having the entire roadway deteriorate and having to rebuild it, what would be, what would we be looking at then per lane mile? 

Kevin Manning: Yeah,  I mean the cost would go up, uh, dramatically. 

You know, we do have projects where we're going in and, you know, basically rebuilding the, the payment in it in its entirety and you're probably, once that happens, your props costs probably go up like tenfold. And  the entire point of our maintenance program is to basically make sure that we are not having issues where we're having pavement break up  badly and the subgrade get damaged, that we have to go in and repair the whole roadway. 

 this is essentially preventative maintenance. And if, you know, we continue to do this on this roadway and roadways across the Shawnee, if we do that, uh, we prevent the need for those more, uh, expensive and very costly projects in the future. 

Doug Donahoo: How long do you hope to get out of a mill and overlay once you're wrapped up, the crews have gone home, how long do you see the road lasting at that point? 

Kevin Manning: Generally our expectation is 15 to 20 years. Um, that that's, if we've got good subgrade, we can definitely do that. You know, we do have me streets that we might have a, a shorter expectation if, you know, we've got a thinner sump grade, but out here on Shawnee Mission Parkway, we're going to have a good base, and  we should get a minimum of 15 years out there. 

Doug Donahoo: Great. Great. What about other projects happening along Shawnee Mission Parkway? As you said, you're going to start with the storm water pipes. Take a look at those, see what needs to be repaired or replaced. Is there any other work that's going to be happening along the parkway as a part of this overall project? 

Kevin Manning: Sure.  we, we uh, we did look at me other kind of traffic related items. Um, as part of this project, whenever we have a project of this magnitude, we want to make sure we kind of capture all the work that's done out there at once and not have to go kind of back and forth.  one thing we did look at was the need to, or the potential need to signalize the intersection of Vista Drive. 

That's mething that, you know, we've heard from, from me residents and from business owners in the area over time. Um, and  we, we go out there and took me traffic counts and, and. See if that warranted a signal. And at this point we're planning on moving forward with that. And  Vista is basically an intersection between Woodland Drive and Barker Road. 

And  we are planning on signalizing that as part of this project. And we're al planning on basically adding me necessary turn lanes at that intersection.  there's an existing eastbound left turn lane. We're going to be adding an eastbound right turn lane. And then al on eastbound left turn lane, just making sure that people can pull out of the through lanes on Shawnee Mission Parkway and get into those left turn lanes  they can make those movements safely and they're, they're not having to come to a stop in Shawnee Mission Parkway. 

Doug Donahoo: Okay, great. Uh, anything else, uh, in terms of turn lanes or other, uh, improvements that are going to be made at any of the other major intersections along the parkway? 

Kevin Manning: Yeah, we do have a uthbound, uh, right turn lane that's planned for woodland, um, drive as well. That particular intersection's actually, you know. 

Pretty congested, especially in the morning and afternoon peaks. And , you know, we've looked at me different options as to how we can add capacity and there's not a lot of great options out there. If you look at it. We don't have the option of adding dual left turn lanes on on most of our approaches, but there are a fair amount of people that turn right going uthbound there. 

And  that is mething that if we add that right turn lane, we can theoretically allocate less green time to the uthbound through movement and improve the overall effectiveness or efficiency of the intersection. 

Doug Donahoo: Okay. Well one thing we do want folks to to know is that you are acutely aware that. Folks use Shawnee Mission Parkway every single day to get to work, to get home, to get their grocery shopping done. How are we going to ensure that folks are still able to access their, their neighborhoods, still be able to access shopping and dining along, along Shawnee Mission Parkway during the project? 

Kevin Manning: Sure.  traffic control is kind of a key consideration of our design, and we're still kind of working through that.  we don't have everything finalized right now, but we're always going to do the. Our, our first option is always to try to keep as many lanes open as possible. There will likely be me scenarios where we'll have to have me closures. 

Certainly for our storm water, when we're going across, we're going to be digging up the roadway. There's no, um, getting around that. But for the most part, our, our goal and our design is to minimize. Traffic impacts as as much as possible 

Doug Donahoo: now that we've kind of laid out everything as, as much as you have planned up to this point. 

And obviously there's still me last minute pieces that have to be roughed out and, and put fine detail on when should folks start to see, uh, start to see the mill and overlay crews out on the road.  

Kevin Manning: the project will likely start, hopefully around July one. Uh, one of the things that we're kind of, uh, working with right now is the Kdot project at 4 35 in Midland. 

Um, the, basically for Shawnee Mission Parkway from 4 35 to Barker Road is part of an interstate de ramp detour right now. And  we want to make sure that. We're not conflicting with that project and conflicting with that detour. , uh, there may be me work going on, um, like I said, hopefully around July one, but we're going to be staying away from more of the east side of the project that, you know, we're, we're going to make sure that we're not running into that traffic control. 

Um, and we will focus more on the west side, but like I said, July one is when we can start seeing, um,  

Doug Donahoo:  we get started roughly about July 1st. How long then do you expect to have crews out? Continuing to do this work until the job is completed. 

Kevin Manning: Yeah, more than likely this is going to be a, a large project. 

There's a lot of work to do,  I can, I think we can anticipate that the project will continue on through November of 2025.  July through November, um, hopefully early December. We're getting everything wrapped up. 

Doug Donahoo: Well. A fresh new Shawnee Mission Parkway, I think feels like a pretty good Christmas gift for the city of Shawnee. 

That's a great way to put it. We're looking forward to having it done. Anything in the future that, uh, that we're looking at in terms of the rest of Shawnee Mission Parkway? East of Lackman headed towards, uh, the city limits on, uh, on the east side of town. 

Kevin Manning: Yeah.  a lot of Shawnee Mission Parkway is kind of in a, in a similar state. 

It's not, um, in a great state right now.  we do have future projects planned for different sections of Shawnee Mission Parkway. Basically east of 4 35, we've got that kind of divided up into three separate projects. And , you know, we're taking care of a large portion of this this year. Um, but we will see subsequent projects, uh, three different projects over the next 3, 4, 5 years. 

We're still working on the scheduling on that, but you will see additional work on China Mission Parkway on the east side of the city. Um, in subsequent years as well. 

Doug Donahoo: And as those projects come up, we'll have Kevin Manning back on the podcast to talk about them, to let you know what's happening. Kevin, thank you  much for joining us this month. 

Really enjoyed the conversation, and we look forward to getting a nice, new, fresh, smooth Shawnee Mission Parkway. From Lackman to K7 here in several months, but, uh, very, very on. I think you're, you're right. Thanks again for having me. 

Doug Donahoo: Welcome to the Shawnee Pulse. My name is Doug Donahoo, communications director for the city. Always lovely to have you here with us. It is June, it is summer here in the city of Shawnee and. No department, I think, better encapsulate what it means to be in summertime in Shawnee than the Parks and Recreation Department. 

And going into July, it will be Parks and Recreation Month. That is a national highlight across the entire country, but really important here in Shawnee. To pay attention to what we have going on in our Parks and Recreation department, and who better to talk about that than Parks and recreation director herself. 

Tonya Lecuru will be with us, along with Kate Kinkaid here for the entire episode to talk everything that's happening in Parks and Rec in the month of July in the city of Shawnee. Joining us now, Tonya and Kate. 

Tonya Lecuru is the Director of Parks and Recreation here for the City of Shawnee and Kate. And Kate is here too for the entire episode. Kate. Tonya, very lovely to have you both. Well, thank you for having us, Tonya. Let's go ahead and introduce you to the fine folks of Shawnee and to all the listeners of the Pulse podcast. 

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your current role and your years of experience with the city of Shawnee.  

Tonya Lecuru: Well, I've been with the city of Shawnee for 26 years next week, so the anniversary is coming up on that, but I, who bought the  

Doug Donahoo: cake? Did you buy the cake, Kate?  

Tonya Lecuru: It's on order. Okay,  

Doug Donahoo: good. Good. Cake is on order. 

Sorry, go ahead, Tonya.  

Tonya Lecuru: There we go. So I started with the city as the Deputy Parks and Recreation director, uh, starting the recreation programs that the city hosts now, and was promoted to director, uh, three years ago. So I've been in my new position since then.  

Doug Donahoo: And what were you doing before you came to the city of Shawnee? 

You,  

Tonya Lecuru: so I'm a Parks and Rec kid, so I grew up in Parks and Rec. My degree is in recreation and park administration. And yes, that's really a degree. Most people don't know that's a real thing., but when I, I worked a little bit of commercial recreation and then I came from Johnson County Parks and Rec. So what brought me back to here and had the opportunity when Shawnee was expanding to. 

To, to start new with them.  

Doug Donahoo: Excellent, excellent. Kate, I don't think we've necessarily had a chance to really delve into your background and, and your role with the Parks and Rec department. So if you could let our listeners know just a little bit about what you do with the Parks department too.  

Kate Kinkaid: Yeah, so I'm the marketing program manager, so I do communications and marketing. 

I get to work with you lovely folks quite frequently, which is nice., in addition to all the great staff in Parks and recreation. But I have been with the city for. 14 years., and then prior to, I also worked for Johnson County Parks and Rec. I worked in both,, youth services with Johnson County and also senior services. 

When I came to the city, I much like Tonya did,, recreation programming for the whole city. And we've expanded and grown since then. And that's when I kinda moved into the role that I'm in now.  

Doug Donahoo: Okay. So 26 years. 14 years. I just recently passed two years of service to the city of Shawnee, so I'm woefully, woefully inexperienced in comparison in this conversation. 

But let's get into talking a little bit about the Shawnee Parks and Recreation Department as a whole. Tonya, that's why you're here. To let folks know everything that goes into. Maintaining, creating and just keeping Shawnee Parks and Rec moving forward. So tell us a little bit about Total Park acreage in the city. 

I don't think people necessarily understand just how much there is. So how much in terms of Parkland is there in the city? I.  

Tonya Lecuru: I agree with your statement that most people don't know exactly what, how much and where they're at. So,, we have over 1,010 acres of parkland., a little under half of that is developed. 

A lot of it is for the future, which is again, one of our goals and our, our missions is to make sure we preserve that for the future. But 110 or 1,010, I said it wrong, didn't die. It's, it's okay. 1,010, uh, acres of, of Parkland. Uh, we have over 35 parks. We have,, different facilities, the civic center and, and two aquatic,, facilities as well as two splash pads. 

So a lot of, uh, a lot of coverage from east to west and you know, north to south.  

Doug Donahoo: And when we talk about parks, they actually fall into different categories in terms of their size, right? It's, it's, we don't just think of them as small, medium, and large, but we think of them as neighborhood. Regional and destination, correct? 

Tonya Lecuru: That is correct. So we, we try to have a little bit of something for everyone. Some people prefer the smaller parks,, but some, like, you know, the destinations, which brings people to our community and to Shawnee. And so we have a, we have really started identifying some of those and, and improving on those. 

The, uh, Wilder Bluff Park, it was our newest,, full build park that we did as a destination location and. Then that's on the west side and then east side, we've just renovated Gum Springs Park, which is one of our oldest parks in the system, uh, that has had a new facelift just last year. And it's definitely a destination location. 

Doug Donahoo: Well, you're getting ahead of me a little bit in terms of, uh, renovations to parks, but that's okay. You talked about the future though, and I think the future for any department in the city of Shawnee is important. When we're looking at the green space goal, the access goal that I've heard about the one third of a mile, can you tell our listeners a little bit more about what that goal is and how it kind of lays out the vision for Parks and Shawnee? 

From today going forward?  

Tonya Lecuru: Absolutely. So the Parks and Recreation Department has adopted a policy that we would like to see a, a green space or open public space within a third of a mile of every resident. So if you take the, the map of Shawnee. You identify the locations that NRPA is more of a 10 minute walk. 

We've kind of, we're a little closer than that, so a third of a mile., we look to make sure that there's open green space. Is that a public park? Is that a public school? Those type of things where people can get out and recreate. Is there a trail that they can go to? So that goal is a third of a mile. So when you see the overall map of Shawnee and the bubbles that we create, we look for when we have the opportunities, look for those areas that aren't being serviced. 

Within the third of a mile as opportunities for us in the future. So that's how we kind of determine where we need to grow and add.  

Doug Donahoo: So even if some of that is access, making a trail accessible to residents. So then from that trail position, that trail start, they can get to any other, you know, another facility fairly easily and directly. 

Tonya Lecuru: So a a lot of our trails, uh, yeah, they can be used for,. Transportation or so non, non-motorized transportation, those kind of things to take you to the grocery store or to take you to a school or to take you to another park. So we do have that connection, but our trail system,, clear Creek Trail. 

Mm-hmm., it's almost four miles of trail and it is an east west trail and it connects into, uh, Gary. The Gary Haller Trail, which is a Johnson County Parks and Recreation District Trail, which is a 17 mile trail from the river all the way out to Olathe. So it's really connecting,, to, to ourselves and to other entities throughout the county. 

Doug Donahoo: Let's talk a little bit about other entities. I think one of the challenges, perhaps misconceptions in Shawnee is the, uh. The connection to Shawnee Mission Park, which is a Johnson County Park, but is still directly linked to Shawnee because of its proximity to our southern border, and just the fact that the city has kind of grown around that northern edge, that northern park, I. 

Of Shawnee Mission Park. How does the partnership work with J-C-P-R-D in that regard?  

Tonya Lecuru: So we have a great relationship with the county and, and partner with them a lot of times on different, uh, trail projects or programs, those type of things. But,, Shawnee Mission Park is, while it's a county park, uh, resides in Lenexa and Shawnee. 

And so,, we do have that connection through there., we connect into it, we work together, big events, things like that, that we may share space or, or resources. So,. It's, it's just parks and recreation in Johnson County is excellent wherever you go.  

Doug Donahoo: I would totally agree with that. And one of the excellent new things about Shawnee Parks and Rec this summer is the new summer camp program. 

And I understand that has been a huge hit.  

Tonya Lecuru: That is a huge Wow. We are very pleased that we were able to offer this, uh, summer camp. And, uh, camp Shawnee is a day camp. Uh. Weekly day camp folks are coming in. We have 75 is our max this year, so we're licensed up to a hundred. And so as our pilot year, we're really learning a lot about it. 

Uh, uh, reviews on the first couple weeks here have been great., but we look to expand this program, uh, next year up to. Hopefully a hundred, uh, campers, but during our needs assessments and our mark, our,, master plan looking for what the residents were really looking for, uh, summer daycare where day camps was something that was really needed or for our residents that were having to go other cities to do that. 

Um, while we offered half day camps and things like that, it's that full day need. So we were able to meet it this year and, uh, again, uh, rave reviews to get us kicked off.  

Doug Donahoo: Well, it certainly seems like rave reviews in general for the Shawnee. Uh, yeah. It certainly seems like rave reviews for the Shawnee Parks and Rec Department are just par for the course, that that's what you guys get literally every single day. 

And it really starts with the team that is overseeing, maintaining, uh, the parks, producing the programs at the, uh, civic center. Doing all the things necessary to keep the ball rolling every single day in the city. Talk to me a little bit about, uh, the total staff that the Parks and Recreation Department has. 

Tonya Lecuru: So, uh, we we're small but mighty. Mm-hmm. We get a lot done. So, uh, we have 23 full-time staff members within Parks and Recreation, and so that is across five different divisions., so a lot with a little on those type of things, but then our seasonal staff does grow, especially with the pools. Uh, I think,  

Doug Donahoo: I think if I'm doing the math right, you basically become the largest employer in the city for about a three month period  

Tonya Lecuru: this year specifically. 

Yeah, with, we have the summer camp added on top of the,, aquatics and yes, we are. Definitely, and that we're a lot of people's first entrance into working, you know, working at the pool as a young child., and we've got an incredible staff,, within aquatics and recreation that really, I think, leads them to a really good working relationship as they work for Grow Up. 

We should  

Doug Donahoo: probably know, young Child in this case does indicate sort of teenage years. Uh, we're not, we're not pulling seventh graders, 70 year olds in there to say, all right, go to work.  

Kate Kinkaid: Four, 14 and up. We start hiring at 14. So we'll have kids that'll start with the pool at 14.  

Doug Donahoo: 14 and up. Kate, what types of roles are we hiring kids for at 14 to really start to get that, that work experience? 

Kate Kinkaid: Yeah, so starting at 14, you can be a cashier at the pool. So those are those,, that's a staff member that's gonna take your money or swipe your card when you come in at the front gate., they also, cashiers will also work at the concession stand and they're gonna take your order,, put it in for you and take your money there too. 

Doug Donahoo: What would you do for somebody say, I don't know, in their, their mid forties that might want to be a cashier?  

Kate Kinkaid: Yeah, so I mean, you know, you gotta apply early. That is the first job that fills at the pool. Okay. All right. Fair enough.  

Doug Donahoo: So, well, I think it's interesting, tan, you talk about this is the first job opportunity for a lot of kids, but it's something that keeps, they keep coming back to the city almost on a regular basis. 

Tonya Lecuru: We have a great retention rate on all of our staff and, and going back to the aquatics, because it, uh, is long. Tenure type thing. But they start as that 14-year-old, uh, front desk concession, and then they turn into a lifeguard, and then they become a head guard and then a manager. And then, you know, they go on to become doctors and nurses and EMTs and teachers because of that experience they have here. 

And, uh, many of them, they, they continue to come back. It's like kind of being a school, you know, they come back and meet their favorite or visit with their favorite teachers or their, you know, the staff that's helped. Develop them and create, you know, their interest in serving.  

Doug Donahoo: Right. And the jobs that you described as they move on to in a professional setting are really jobs based on service to people. 

And that that aspect of service starts as a cashier, as a lifeguard at Shawnee Aquatic Center, which I think is a great story to be able to tell to folks. And one of the ways, one of the ways every year you tell that story is in July, which is National Parks and Rec Month. So. You have the entire department working hard this month. 

I have to imagine.  

Tonya Lecuru: Well, we just finished up with old shiny days and, and getting ready for parks and rec month. The recreation staff and park maintenance staff are, are working hard together to to, to offer a lot of really great programs as well as our museum staff. I. At Shawnee Town 1929.  

Doug Donahoo: I should point out that they're working hard, uh, the other 11 months too. 

But July is really where it all comes together and shines, and it starts with park here at the end of June, Kate, that is really sort of where your, uh, expertise and your focus lies as, as the. Coordinator, manager, all things, uh, wise about parked, I think would be the best way to put it.  

Kate Kinkaid: Yeah, we can put that in that other duties as as assigned. 

Do you want that on your business card portion? Yeah, I can. Yes. But yeah, park grand  

Doug Donahoo: PAH of park. There we go. How about that? Go. There we  

Kate Kinkaid: go. I love it. I love it. Official title change. Can we do that Tonya?  

Doug Donahoo: We'll work on that. Okay. Okay, great.  

Kate Kinkaid:, yes, parked is coming up. End of June. It is our gosh. Sixth or seventh. 

I know we missed a year. We missed the COVID year, but,, it's our sixth or seventh year that we've been doing parked out at Stump Park. This  

Doug Donahoo: is very much an audio medium, but I love to watch the two, just kind of have this moment of doing the math together in their heads and figure it out. It's a lot, it's  

Kate Kinkaid: been a lot of years, but it's a great event. 

So it is,, always on the. Last Friday of June, and we do it out at Stump Park. It is a concert and fireworks in the park. It's super fun. We have food trucks lining the parking lot., we recently, just over the last two or three years have started adding vendors and we've got a full lineup of vendors for this, this event as well. 

Kicks off at five 30 at Stump Park.  

Doug Donahoo: That'll be Friday, June 27th, Friday,  

Kate Kinkaid: June 27th. Yes. Sorry, I didn't  

Doug Donahoo: That's all right. That's all right.  

Kate Kinkaid: Kickoff at five 30 with food trucks and music. We have the Theresa Deaton Band this year. We always rotate that band, so it's somebody new and fresh., and then fireworks, the big highlight of the evening starts at nine 30. 

Doug Donahoo: Really the earliest fireworks show in the city as we're kind of talking in relationship to the Independence Day holiday. Correct.  

Tonya Lecuru: So that firework show,, it started parked, actually started. 20 plus years ago, uh, as summer concerts in the park. Mm-hmm. And so it's evolved to that. But, uh, that was fireworks was always the fun piece that we had received, you know, added to it. 

Uh, and Bretton Brothers contracting,, had, had always been a really big supporter of that. And one year we weren't able to do it financially, you know, with the. That. So we decided not to, to do it, and he missed it and said, Hey, uh, what would it take? And so we are very lucky to have his support to get the fireworks for our parked event. 

Doug Donahoo: Well, thank you to,  

Tonya Lecuru: uh, Ron Bratton with Bratton Brothers Contracting.  

Doug Donahoo: Thank you to Ron and the entire team over there, Bratton brothers for supporting fireworks at Park. That's a, that's a huge highlight for a lot of people in Shawnee and even visitors from outside of Shawnee. You said it's a little bit different this year with vendors. 

What will folks, uh, what can folks, uh, expect to find with the vendors this year? Kate?  

Kate Kinkaid: Yeah, so similar to a craft fair moonlight market type,, event. We're gonna have handmade vendors. There's a few, I think,. Additional vendors and, and sponsors in addition to, that'll be. But what we'll have in the parking lot is you'll have your food trucks kind of looped around, and then down the middle you'll have,, a group of vendors that'll have different activities and things that you can shop for and,  

Doug Donahoo: well, I do like shopping. 

I do like shopping. So, uh, I think Tony, it's important to relate to the people. In the, in this situation. That's why I say I like shopping. I like just about anything. I like food trucks. I like fireworks. I, you know, park sounds like my kind of event. Let's be honest.  

Kate Kinkaid: Do you like sprinklers? You know, we got the sprinklers on for the  

Doug Donahoo: kids. 

No, the sprinklers with me running through them and fully clothed, I don't think it's gonna work so well. Okay. I, yeah, it's not, not, not, that's not necessarily my seat. You  

Kate Kinkaid: can visit the misting tent. There we  

Doug Donahoo: go. The misting tent. That's important because as we typically know, the end of June can get a little bit. 

Steamy in Shawnee, I think it'd be fair to say. Then of course we looked at May and we felt like we were in the middle of fall part of the month. So who knows for sure what the weather is going to bring, but expect Park to be a little bit toasty and know that the, uh, the great team here at the Parks and Rec department is gonna have a way for you to stay cool and stay in the shade and then as the sun goes down, enjoy the music and the fireworks. 

So that will be fantastic. Looking through the rest of July and the rest of Parks and Rec month, uh, what else can we expect, uh, from other events in the, in the parks and rec facilities moving through the month?  

Kate Kinkaid: Yeah, so as you mentioned, we have five different divisions within Parks and Recreation,, and we try to represent all of those divisions. 

Unfortunately, our cemetery division gets a little overlooked during Parks and rec month. We don't really highlight that division as much, but,, but all the other divisions, we've got Shawnee Town, we've got the pools, we've got the parks, we've got recreation., we, the goal with Parks and Rec month is that we're able to highlight the programs and activities that we do. 

Um. Free to the public. Mm-hmm. So the goal is that they're all free activities. We have., and that should  

Doug Donahoo: be that free for anybody who comes to one. So whether you live in Shawnee or Johnson County or even in the rest of the Kansas City metro area, totally free for whoever is there.  

Kate Kinkaid: Yep, yep. And we have a whole website with all these lined out. 

'cause I know you're probably listening to this in your car. You wanna look it up. City of Shawnee.org back slash park month., you can see all these listed out and all the details there., but we've got reading to the rooster at Shawnee Town. That's every Wednesday. That's a really neat event. They do,, in partnership, I believe with the Johnson County Library. 

So that's a really neat event that you can go out there and read books to the chickens in the mornings on Wednesdays from 10 to 12, we have our freedom fleeing at the pool., that is free admission with a canned food donation for Shawnee Community Services. So it's on Friday, July 4th. It's 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM They do games every hour. 

It's super fun. The kids have a blast. They give out prizes when they play the games we've been before. It's fun. It's a great time., July 5th, we're doing our annual popsicles in the park out at Wilder Bluff Park. So if you come out that morning,, between 10 and 11:00 AM you can play on the splash pad, play on the playground, and get a Popsicle outta the deal. 

Doug Donahoo: 10 to 11:00 AM That's important to note because that's that's early enough in the morning. It's not gonna melt immediately before you have a chance to eat it.  

Kate Kinkaid: Correct? Correct. Get it, it's, it's your pre-lunch Popsicle. Is that a thing?  

Doug Donahoo: I, it is now. Okay. I, I'm gonna start putting that on my calendar every single day. 

10:00 AM. Doug has a 15 minute break for his pre-lunch Popsicle. Yeah. It's like  

Kate Kinkaid: an appetizer.  

Doug Donahoo: Yes, exactly right. Yes. That makes it sound less sad for me.  

Kate Kinkaid: Yes, yes., one of the neat things we added this year was we are doing drop-in pickleball on Sunday evenings. It's a program that we typically offer, but it's offered with a punch card. 

Um, one of the things that we had to do this year with. The addition of the camp is our pickleball hours., were shifted to just two courts instead of four. Mm-hmm. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday. So when we were talking about Parks month and how can we give back to our community,, one of the things that we were like we want to do is offer pickleball for free on Sunday evenings for the month of July as part of our parks and rec month celebration. 

Um, we know that we cut back on those hours for our pickle ballers and this gives them another opportunity to come play. So that's one thing that we're looking forward to on those Sunday evenings. And then our dive in movie,, that is on. July 12th, which is a Saturday at 8:00 PM free with a canned food donation as well. 

Doug Donahoo: What'll be shown on the big screen. Oh  

Kate Kinkaid: my gosh. Are you ready for this?  

Doug Donahoo: I'm so ready for this  

Kate Kinkaid: Minecraft movie.  

Doug Donahoo: Okay. Wow. So, so it's not just, Hey, this is gonna be a cool opportunity to watch a movie while floating in the pool. But you also get to see a really recent release that's from, from the, from the theaters. 

Kate Kinkaid: We are building anticipation, but,, boom. There it is. There it is.  

Doug Donahoo: And, and I have to apologize to our listeners because typically you get those bad jokes from me, and now it is slowly spreading throughout the rest of the podcast.  

Kate Kinkaid: I've been, I've been around for a few of these now. I had to catch on at some point. 

Fair enough. Fair enough. Fair enough. Yeah., touch a truck. This is always a favorite as well. Mm-hmm. On that is on Wednesday, July 16th. So we partner with police and fire for that when they bring out their vehicles.  

Doug Donahoo: And public  

Kate Kinkaid: works. And public works. Yeah. I don't skip. One of the most important ones. So we've got parks, vehicles, public works,, police and fire. 

We come out that is at Herman Laird Park right outside of Shawnee Town, 1929. There,, five to six 30. It's a great pop by after work,, after camp, whatever it may be, and swing by and climb on all those little big rigs as a. Parent two littles. I appreciate that it's a little bit smaller mm-hmm. Than some of the other big,, touch of trucks, so it's a little less overwhelming, especially for a weeknight. 

Doug Donahoo: Yeah, absolutely.  

Kate Kinkaid: On July 19th, we have our mobile wellness hub, so this has been going on. Tonya, you may have to, is this our third year? Is it  

Tonya Lecuru: third year? It's  

Kate Kinkaid: our third year. It started with a grant from NRPA,, but now we're kind of running it on our own with our wellness partners. It is at Shiano Elementary from 10, or sorry, nine 30 to 11:30 AM And you can come by, get some food stock, your pantry. 

We have all our wellness partners there giving, giving out information. There's a different theme to each one, and I haven't gotten the theme for this for Julys yet, but it's definitely a great opportunity to come out and be well.  

Doug Donahoo: I think that's one of the most amazing success stories with our parks and recreation department, that it's not just about providing places for kids to play on a playground or kids to go swimming, but an opportunity to build a healthier life at home. 

By doing this outreach on a regular basis, so kudos to, to the staff for putting that together as much as anything else.  

Tonya Lecuru: I would definitely say, uh, parks and Rec. Our, our mission is to provide or create opportunities for the community to explore, engage and connect. And I definitely think our wellness hub just is, shows that so perfectly to bring the people together that can provide the services to the residents for their health and for. 

Even their social being and their, and mental and just having that opportunity to gather. So I think that's a big piece with our, our Wellness hub and programming.  

Doug Donahoo: Tonya, is that sort of the overall message of Parks and Recreation month? It's, it's not just about, not just about highlighting the department and the wonderful team that you have here in the city of Shawnee, but really showing how important the parks and rec department is to the everyday life of folks who live here in Shawnee or visit Shawnee. 

Tonya Lecuru: Absolutely. You know, as Kate mentioned, all of our different divisions, when we created our mission statement, we, we came together, did a lot of brainstorming, and those words explore, engage, and connect, resonated with every single division, whether it was aquatics or,, the, the museum, Shawnee Town or recreation, or our maintenance staff. 

Those things mean something maybe to each different division. However, they all provide the same service. It's just the way they provide it. So it's, it's how we give back and it's definitely, uh, a department of service to, you know, to provide for the quality of life of our residents and to make them want to make Shawnee home. 

Doug Donahoo: Well, like Kate said, there are plenty of opportunities to explore, engage, and connect during the month of July. Uh, and you can find all of them city of Shawnee.org/park month. So find all of that information there. All those events, everything Kate mentioned and more. I have to imagine  

Kate Kinkaid: there's a little bit more. 

And I am gonna say, go to that website if you're interested. 'cause there are three events on our lineup that you do. Although they're free, it's limited space, so you would need to pre-register for 'em.  

Doug Donahoo: Okay? So any of those come with a free lunch. Oh, they do not very well. They did not. I heard  

Kate Kinkaid: that Tonya was offering free lunch though. 

Doug Donahoo: Oh. Tonya's offering free lunch. Tell me when and where.  

Kate Kinkaid: You know, we'll get back  

Tonya Lecuru: to you on that. Okay.  

Doug Donahoo: All right. That's fine. That's fine. Even if it's just, even if it's just lunch for me. That's fine. That's fine. After I have my Popsicle, I'll come over for lunch. Noted not. Okay. Very good. Very good. We started off talking a little bit about at the beginning. 

Uh, recent renovations for Gum Springs Park and, and really updating that, as you said, that was one of, uh, Shawnee's oldest parks and, and really bringing that into the 21st century, giving it a landmark play structure, the first of its kind in North America. And now what is the next park that we're starting working on? 

Tonya Lecuru: So we just got started on the renovations of Garrett Park, which is, uh, west of 4 35. It's on Monticello and. Uh, 47th Street, you can access it on both of those locations. The unique thing about this park is that this was one of the very first parks that was developed through the parks and pipe sales tax that was approved back in 2000. 

So it was the first park in 2004 that went from a, a field in two, uh. A wonderful park that was, has always been very involved and engaged. There's a lot of people use it, they love it. They're walkers, there's baseball, there's soccer players, lacrosse, all the things. So it has a little bit of the, the natural walking or nature pieces. 

Mm-hmm. As well as the play pieces. So,, this year we are doing a, a complete renovation of that. A lot of our renovation for this park is to make it more aada, a accessible mm-hmm. To work on some, uh, access points and things. But there will be a brand new destination playground added to this location., and so lots of great things have went into that. 

Um, the Garrett family house used stone building used to,. Be located on the site. So we're doing some interpretation, so working with our museum staff as well. And then one of the newest things that will be here, they'll be the first in our system is a fitness court. So we received a grant from the National National Fitness campaign and we'll be adding a, a fitness court with, uh, body weight exercises and things that people can do, make it a stop on their, their walk, their run their bike,, but also make it an opportunity to make the. 

Healthier community  

Doug Donahoo: well and make a healthier community with no monthly gym, gym membership necessary.  

Tonya Lecuru: Absolutely.  

Doug Donahoo: After Garrett Park, what's sort of the next. Park on the list, the next recreational facility on the list that you are targeting. In terms of what the future holds for the City of Shawnee's, parks and Recreation department. 

Tonya Lecuru: There are so many great things that are coming up that we're really excited about. Some of those are gonna be improvements to Shawnee Town. I. But the one that we've got kicked off this year that we're working on a master plan for is our rail creek park., this park has been identified for a number of years in both,, the parks and recreation,, master plan. 

Imagine Shawnee Achieve Shawnee, all of the cities,, planning documents as we're we're moving forward, has identified this location, uh, as a. An active recreation location, so it's 170 acres., and we're looking to create a bike, a destination location for biking. So, uh, cyclo cross, uh, mountain biking, uh, recreational exercise type, biking, all the different things as well as walking and, and socializing, those type of things. 

But this last weekend with,. Old sunny days, we had the opportunity to do some public engagement to see what else. Again, it's a park for our community as well as a destination location. So what do we want? What, what does the public want it to be? So we had some great response to that., you know, another destination, playground, maybe restrooms are important walking trails. 

Um. Fishing pond. You know, there's a lot of different things that people were able to say they'd like to see in this park. So this year, that was the start of it. Uh, we're gathering a little bit of,, the public engagement with those pieces and then to create a survey. So there will be an online survey available. 

To the public., and, uh, they'll be on our social media channels as well as,, in our facilities and things where people have the opportunity to sign up and have that survey sent to you. But it's really a way to kind of start the process of seeing what this will look like in the future,  

Doug Donahoo: because that engagement with the public is so important to determining what. 

Any new park or renovations to an existing park in the city is going to look like, right?  

Tonya Lecuru: Absolutely. Uh, between this public engagement or our needs assessment. Needs assessments that we do every five years. This, I mean, it's their parks, it's our public, it's our residence parks, and we wanna make sure we're meeting their needs where they're at. 

Doug Donahoo: Excellent. Well, I think that's the most important thing when it comes to the city of Shawnee and and providing this service to them, is that we are meeting folks where they are. Whether it be with a neighborhood park or a destination park, somewhere else in the city and providing those services to them. 

So Tonya, Kate, thank you both so much for joining us for this month's episode of the Shawnee Pulse. And again, parks and Recreation Month kicks off on Friday, June 27th at Stump Park, 5:30 PM. Four parked, and you can find, as Kate said, more information about all the events. City of Shawnee.org/park month. 

Tonya, Kate, thank you again both so much.  

Kate Kinkaid: Thank you. Thank you. 

Doug Donahoo: Well, once again, special thanks to Tonya Lecuru and Kate Kinkaid for joining us. Had a lot of great information. As Kate mentioned, you can find more out about Parks and Recreation month on city of Shawnee.org/park month. All the events, all the details, all the locations to get out there, enjoy them for free in the month of July. 

And then once you get used to going to any one of our parks, please come back. We'd love to see whether it's at Gum Springs or uh, your local neighborhood park or one of our aquatic centers or the Civic Center. There's always something to do with the city of Shawnee and the Parks and Recreation department. 

Of course, we do want to give you a little bit of a wrap up of what else has been happening in the city. Shawnee City Council was in session on Monday, June 9th. Couple of, uh, projects that were, uh, took next steps towards completion. The council approved the engineering Services agreement with BG Consultants LLC for the next Street Improvement Program Project will put, which will be 51st Street from Black Swan Drive to Vera Road. 

That project will happen in 2026. This engineering services agreement is really that next step into. Determining what that road will look like over that stretch from Black Swan to Vera as well. The Shawnee also approved the final plans and authorized the staff to bid the Shawnee Mission Parkway Mill and overlay project that was on a unanimous vote. 

You can go back to our May episode of the Shawnee Pulse Podcast with Kevin Manning, the Public Works Director as he goes into that project and tells you a little bit more about what to expect when it. Does get started and during council committees speaking to Parks and Recreation and Public Works, both of those departments provided their budget overview for the 2026 budget process that we're in the middle of. 

Right now, those two departments, we didn't really get into this with, uh, Tonya and Kate, but those two. Uh, departments combined account for almost a quarter of the total city budget. And when you think about how much land they cover, both in terms of park acreage and streets, it's money well spent to provide, uh, lots of great recreational opportunities in the city and a smooth drive to work or school. 

Thursday, June 19th, uh, city offices will be closed in honor of the Juneteenth holiday. Both aquatic centers will be open for their normal holiday hours from 1230 to 5:00 PM and looking forward into the rest of July, uh, the offices will also be closed. On Independence Day, Friday, July 4th with holiday hours at both aquatic centers. 

As Kate said, they'll also have Freedom Fling happening from one to 5:00 PM every hour with activities there at both Splash Cove and the Thomas Su Aquatic Center. And in July, Moonlight market returns to its normal Third Thursday, on Thursday, July 17th, four to 8:00 PM in the City Hall parking lot. That will be Christmas in July. 

Again, really hope to see everybody out there, whether you're coming for a Parks and Recreation Month event. Or coming to Moonlight Market or doing anything in downtown Shawnee, uh, along 4 35 in the Midland Entertainment District along K seven. We'd love to see you out here in Shawnee. Thanks so much for listening to the Pulse podcast. 

We will see you again in July.