Parks & Recreation Minutes - November 3rd, 2025

Parks & Rec Minutes
November 3, 2025 @ 7pm
This meeting was held in person only at the Township Building

• Call to Order 
• Attendees: Helen Eckel-Wiener, Sam Wiener, Katie Brauchle, Liz Malone, Anne Duzan, Brett Klukan
  • Staff Present: Jessica Markovich
• Public Comment
• Minutes approved – October 6, 2025
• Old business
  
  • Halloween Party Recap
    
    • Anne commented on the effectiveness of the costume contest judging process and positive feedback from it. Helen suggested having a costume contest category that is specifically for adult participants with appropriately related prizes as categories and prizes were geared more towards children, as it can promote more participation.
      
    • A great event! Some stats are: 29 scavenger hunts submitted, 90 costume contest participants, 77 cookie jar guesses (winner guessed 212, actual amount was 216), and 62 pumpkin weight guesses (winner guessed 23.7 and the actual weight was 22.9). The Parks & Rec board hosted their first trunk at the Trunk or Treat, and it went very well. The Board expressed appreciation for the Thorndale Fire Company/Caln Township Professional Firefighters, Public Works, and the CTPD for participating in the event. Jessica discussed with the Board about the township creating the sign up for the Trunk or Treat next year so if we need to contact any participants directly for updates, we can easily access contact information. The Board discussed opening the sign up for trunks earlier than it was this year as it can encourage more participation, especially from businesses.
      
  • Clean-Up Crew Recap – October 18th and November 1st
    
    • The last two clean up crews of 2025! Everyone who signed up for each showed up to the event. Brett and Sam received the first Clean Up Crew hoodies for their participation in 12 Clean Up Crew events. On the October 18th clean up, there were between 16-18 bags of trash and four tires collected. On the November 1st clean up, 32 bags and four tires were collected as well. A resident had reached out to the township regarding scheduling a clean up for Black Horse Hill Road and North Caln. Due to its location, we would have to close the road completely for the safety of the volunteers, which is a trickier feat. Jessica and Abbey will look into the possibility of this. The Clean Up Crew has done clean ups at the bottom of North Caln to help clean up the litter as safely as possible.
      
• New Business
  
  •  Tree Lighting Planning – December 7th
    
    • Shannon Cooper’s Dance Academy and the Coatesville Meistersingers will perform at the Tree Lighting again. The Rotary Club of Thorndale-Downingtown will be proposing running the refreshments table at the event at the Rotary’s next meeting. If the Rotary Club is unable to run the refreshments table, Jessica asked the Parks & Rec board if they would be interested in the Historical Commission running table, or if they would want to reach out to a different group. The Parks & Rec board agreed to move forward with the Historical Commission if the Rotary cannot. For the honorary tree lighter, it was proposed to have Rita Tingle-Lewis, Director of the Coatesville Meistersingers, as the tree lighter as she is retiring after this year. The Parks & Rec Board all agreed. The Fire Company will be there to help monitor the fire for the s’mores, but they may not be able to provide a Santa Claus as he may not be available. As a backup, Tracey Laws from the CTPD offered Parks & Rec a contact she has for a Santa that participates at many holiday events. Jessica and Abbey will be purchasing live plant decorations and lights for the event. The group decided to meet at the Township building between 2:00-2:30 P.M. to decorate the event. Jessica will update the Board about the Rotary Club and Santa Claus as things progress.
      
    • Anne suggested having a collection box for broken tree lights for recycling at the event, and the Board was on board! We will also have the CTPD’s Toys for Tots collection box at the tree lighting as well.
      
  • House Decorating Contest Planning
    
    • Hatt’s Hardware has agreed to sponsor the event once again! The categories for the contest will remain the same: Classic Holiday, Best Use of Lights, Best Use of a Small Space, Best Multimedia, Best Lawn Ornaments, and Residents’ Choice. The Board also discussed having a Best Neighborhood as an honorary category if there was a neighborhood that was largely decorated. Judging will take place on Thursday, December 18th from 6:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M. Registration for the contest will open after Thanksgiving. Participants once again will not be able to sign up for specific categories, giving everyone a higher chance of winning as they are eligible for all categories. However, the Parks & Rec board decided that this year that anyone who won in any category last year will not be able to win this year.
      
    • Sam suggested the idea of handing out fliers for residents to fill out to nominate houses that didn’t enter the competition but wanted to give them public recognition. With this, the Board would have to reach out to the owners of these homes to gather their permission to share images of their homes online.
      
  •  2026 Meeting Dates
    
    • The group decided to continue moving forward with meeting on the first Monday of each month at 7:00 P.M. with the following exceptions:
      
      • No meeting in January and December
        
      • September’s meeting will be held on Monday, September 14th at 7:00 P.M.
        
    • A vote was held to add a meeting in September on the second Monday to the upcoming list of meetings. The motion passed 6-0.
      
  • Meadow Conversion/Seeding
    
    • Now that the township received the PECO Green Region Grant, we can begin to move forward with the planning of the seeding of the rest of the acreage of Caln Meadow Park. Abbey will be reaching out to Weeds Inc. to inquire about them seeding the meadow. We would still hold an event with volunteers to seed a portion of it, but due to its larger side, Weeds Inc. would seed the rest of it.
      
  • Tree Maintenance
    
    • The Riparian Buffer Tree Maintenance will be this Saturday, November 8th. We will be at Lloyd Park from 9:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M. and then Beaver Run Knoll from 12:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M. The township did receive around 15 new trees, so they will be planted at the event. Helen asked if we finished at Lloyd Park before 12:00 P.M. if we would move immediately to Beaver Run Knoll or take a break and still begin the second location at 12:00 P.M., and Jessica said it is likely we would still begin at 12:00 P.M. The township will provide needed supplies to volunteers.
      
  • America250
    
    • Jessica provided an update for the township’s America 250 celebration event. Parks & Recreation will be hosting an Art in the Park session. Liz explained the art projects: cut and paste sticker designs (make their own or premade) onto a picture of Spackman-Davis Farm, and having a contest for painting the Spackman-Davis farm on 5”x7” canvasses and the winner would then have their design on a post card that the township hands out. Helen asked if the art can only be created and submitted at the event, and Liz explained that you will be able to do it at the event but that we could have a longer submission period for paintings. Anne suggested having the contest go until around July 4th. Helen suggested having the art on display at events between the picnic and the Community Day Art Show, such as Summer Series. Helen suggested finding vintage lawn games to have at the event for kids to use to go along with the historic theme.
      
  • The event will be on June 20th. At the event, the hopeful plans are to have two bands perform, trolley tours around the township, walking tours around the Spackman-Davis Farm with actors, a barbershop quartet roaming around, and having a tethered hot air balloon.
    
  • End of Year Appreciation Dinner
    
    • Jessica reminded the Parks & Rec board about the End of Year Appreciation Dinner, and that we will be collecting food donations.
• Jessica provided two more updates:
  • The NYC On Your Own Bus Trip has sold 26 out of 55 tickets, and it will be on Saturday, December 6th. We will leave from Thorndale at 7:30 A.M. and arrive back around 9:00 P.M.
    
  • Public Works, the Township Manager, and Department of Community Enhancement conducted inspections of Meadow Park and Municipal Park. They will continue to complete inspections for the other parks.

• Adjournment


Respectfully submitted,
Jessica Markovich