16 Ideas for Your Next Community Event
Looking for a way to bring folks together? Enter community events. Community events are the perfect type of activity for people to express their shared experiences, values, and goals.
A community event can be anything that highlights a local community and its residents. There’s really no one-size-fits-all approach. However, it still takes time and effort to plan and promote one, just like any other event.
To get you started, here are some community event examples to inspire you. Check out these events that are sure to draw participation from your community. Let’s dive in!
1. Game night
What better way to bring a community together than with a game night! For easy buy-in, create a game night with familiar classics and crowd-pleasers that bring out good-natured competitiveness. Think trivia or quiz shows. For more fun, add elements of your community to the questions, such as its history or fun facts.
2. Food festival
A food festival is a staple when it comes to community events. With enough advance notice, the entire community will have time to prepare a dish for an old-fashioned potluck-style event. Bring out the family recipes and, for a small competitive edge, make it a cook-off with judges and a prize.
3. Farmers market
Support local farmers while providing access to fresh, locally-produced goods via a community farmers market. Community members can build bonds with local vendors, and the market can grow each time it’s held. Your regulars will start looking forward to it!
A market also has mass appeal, attracting people from all over the region to shop local produce and goods, which can make attendance soar.
4. Community cleanup
Beautifying your community as a group event is a win-win. Tell folks when and where to meet, such as high-traffic areas needing clean-up. Bring bags and tongs and any other supplies needed and divide into groups. This type of event is great for allowing social interaction between community volunteers to build stronger relationships.
5. Arts and crafts exhibit
An art exhibition showing local arts and crafts allows local artists to showcase or sell their unique art or crafts. You could involve more of the community by asking local schools to submit student artwork for display. Pair this with a workshop or craft-making class, and it’s a full art-filled event!
6. Seasonal or holiday events
Don’t miss a chance to throw a great community event for your upcoming holiday. Think holiday baking, costume parties, or treasure hunts themed for the particular season. A treasure hunt can include maps to clues around landmarks or popular buildings in the neighborhood with a prize for the first to find the buried treasure!
7. Marathons
Marathons can get the whole community out to run the miles or help coordinate the event. Make it a fundraiser for miles run, with the money going to an important cause for the community. Volunteers can pass out water at mile markers, cheer on runners, set up signs, and help hand out medals.
8. Wellness and fitness
Of course, you can include more than just runners in a fitness-focused community event. If a nature walk is more the community’s speed, host a group walk with a checklist of items to look for while on the trail. Other ideas include yoga in the park, group sunset bike rides, or even beginner meditation classes.
9. Movie night
A movie night with classic or family movies will make for an inclusive event for the whole community. All you need is a big screen, a projector, the right film (think comedies or seasonal classics), popcorn and snacks galore, and you’ve got a community event for the whole family.
10. Hobbies and how-to workshops
Host beginner or intermediate classes that’ll enrich your community. Think crafts like painting, crochet, or pottery, or even writing workshops or computer literacy classes. If anyone in your community is a teacher or specialist, it’s the perfect opportunity to spread that knowledge with the community.
11. Swap meets
Like an arts and crafts event or farmers market, swap meet events offer a place where the community can get together to exchange, buy, or sell specific goods, such as clothing, car parts, or toys for children. Folks will bring in the items they want to “swap” and simply let the exchanging begin! Plus, it’s a great way to reduce waste.
12. Guides and tours
If your area has any unique history, consider hosting an event where guided tours are provided to educate others about that history. If there are any unique landmarks or features, try doing guided walk-throughs. It’s a great way to get folks out in nature and learn more about the community at the same time.
13. Heritage celebration
Celebrate the cultures within your community by hosting events dedicated to specific cultures. Food, entertainment, history, and art can all be featured as a way to honor and celebrate. Consider partnering with local organizations and align goals and important cultural dates.
14. Sports
Get your community out with friendly sports matches! This can be through starting intramural or league tournaments, such as softball or soccer matches. Or, these can be simple frisbee golf days in the park! It can be a casual event or more competitive – whatever gets the interest of your community.
15. Talent show
A talent show gives community members a low-pressure place to show what they’re good at. Give people plenty of time to sign up and practice, as well as for you to find a suitable venue with equipment to facilitate.
Open it up to all ages to attract a variety of performers, young and old! You can also build a roster of potential entertainment for future events.
16. Unique, community-oriented festivals
What is your community known for? For example, it could be specific arts, food, or other products. Create festivals around that. For example, if your community is known for a particular crop, you can have a crop-themed festival each year and feature games, activities, entertainment, and food.
How to get more community event ideas
If you’re struggling to develop more event ideas, let your community decide! With the Community Events plugin from The Events Calendar, website visitors can submit their own events. Users will submit events to your calendar, and you set the moderation and publishing controls.
By allowing your own community to submit events, you’re also gaining direct insights into what your community wants. And by hosting an event they specifically submit, you’ll likely have more registrations and attendees. Plus, you’ll build stronger relationships within the community.
You’ll still have full control over your community event calendar, but now you can easily populate it. Once you have installed and activated the Community Events plugin, simply preview it first on the front end and then share the form widely within your community! Visit our Knowledgebase for more on how to get started with Community Events.
Bring your community together with The Events Calendar
Community events can be an effective way to bring people together or work towards a common goal. Now, with the Community Events plugin from The Events Calendar, community members can give input and directly influence the type of event you host.
Install Community Events now to get started. Or, try out the demo first to see what it can do for you!