No Lemonade Fest, No Free Lunch

The City of Ashland will not re-visit the Lemonade Fest this June.

Bruce Wallace

Or did you notice?

The city’s Park Board experimented with a June festival in the park and the response was…..meh. Not horrible. But not a huge hit, either.

However, the Park Board does have a major event coming up this summer and it involves a solar eclipse – perhaps you’ve heard about it?

OK, you got me on this one.

No, the moon isn’t parking itself in front of the sun this August just to benefit the Ashland Park Board.

However, the Park Board will be hosting folks, along with the school district, at City Park and the high school athletic field. The Park Board has also had some of those special sunglasses made – you don’t want regular sunglasses for this eclipse – and are selling these “Eagles sunglasses” for $2 as a fundraiser for the Parks Department. You can buy a pair of these nifty solar glasses at the Journal.

It’s great to see that the City Park ball field is being used for youth softball again this season. The YMCA league is utilizing the field a few days each week – and it’s rare that you don’t see a group of kids out practicing. It is great to see the field get some good use.

Ashland’s City Park is a gem. Plenty of green space, combined with good picnic facilities and playground make for an excellent space for family get-togethers. I appreciate those park board members and maintenance crews who work to keep it in top shape.

While several good ideas have come from examining, re-examining and then having a committee meeting on the SoBoCo school district’s school lunch debt.

And we should remember, $30,000 is not insignificant, but is a small, small part of a $17 million school district budget.

GoFundMe web pages have cranked up and the social media community has stepped up.

But how much of this is really necessary?

Ernie Wren has a heart as big as all outdoors and good for him for getting involved.

I don’t think fund raising the money owed the district is a good longterm solution, but who can knock the generosity of Southern Boone residents?

The bulk of the lunch debt is at the high school and I think we need to stop talking about “penalizing children.”

I don’t think we graduate children – we graduate young adults. I wonder if these students couldn’t have better results with their parents if administrators had a one-on-one conversation with those students about their school lunch debt.

It surprises me that a school district which teaches a course in personal finance, as per state law, doesn’t involve students in this situation. Expectations, accountability, consequences. Those traits are taught in all kinds of different extra-curricular activities at SoBoCo. I don’t think this situation is much different.

Nobody is advocating punishing children. I would advocate that we involve young adults.

Beyond that, the district simply needs to pull the trigger and, if those in debt won’t communicate with them, send ‘em to collections.