Arts & Culture Committee - November 2025

Present: Mark Haake, Diana Nelson, Joy Bennett, Barbara Bennett-Heck, Jenna Pantling, Kurt Seilers, Chris Heim, Jennifer Heft

Joseph Warren Trail

Dan Cunningham contacted Mayor Nelson to ask for $10,000 for their historic trail. Could incorporate William Mason into the trail. Will be branded the “Freedom Trail” with locations marked. Will make a recommendation to council to contribute to this. 

Gould Park legislation - passed yesterday. Bayer Becker is already working on the wetland mapping. In 30 days, they’ll have a kickoff meeting. Once and for all officially determine whether the mound is actually a burial mound - cultural resource analysis. Pull together base data to create a base map. Will design 3 different concepts jumping off from the concepts we’ve worked on. Will develop a “preferred alternative” which is where this project dovetails with parks master plan. 

RFP is out for parks master plan. Legislation should be to council January. Parks Master plan will involve public input and will use that to identify the preferred alternative. Will have a steering committee. Will meet with groups to get input (sports groups, CDC as a convener of downtown community members, neighborhoods - we get to work with them on how to set this). 

Left turn lane installation requires moving 2 utility poles. Will develop phases for all 3 options. Then will hand off to Parks Master Plan process to identify the preferred alternative.

Mason Market on the Mile

Chris Heim - did a farmers market survey of vendors. Some of the core guys were asking about Saturdays. Thinking about making it Saturday morning. If they did this, could they move it to the plaza/road where the Friday music events are. Easier to expand, get in and out, set up/tear down. Have put this out to the city. Talking about every other week for a total of 9 markets for 2026. (2025 had 7 markets, 2024 had 4 markets). Vendors don’t think Saturday morning will be bad even though Deerfield has one. Considering 10-1. Vendors really don’t like the idea of moving from the west side to the east side. Lebanon moved their market - will ask them. Fairfield moved theirs, too. Establishes the new space as an area for more events. Asked about doing it every week - will need someone to run the market in that case.

Events Guide

We have an Events Team - Barbara Bennett-Heck and Dan Chambers. Recognizing that people want to host events in Mason, the Events Guide pulls pieces together that already exist but needed to be organized. This is intended as an initial resource to start a conversation with the Events Team. Tried to create both a comprehensive guide and modular elements that can be pulled out separately as stand-alone pieces. It also links to outside resources as needed. 

Find it here! ImagineMason.org/things-to-do/hosting-an-event-in-mason

Bottom line - if you have an idea or an event to plan, CALL THE CITY! They want to have the conversation and help you plan.