Wheat Ridge Parks and Recreation was awarded the Colorado Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA) “Columbine” award for Programming at the 2022 CPRA annual conference.
The Columbine Awards have three categories with one annual award per category: Design, Innovation, and Programming, and are designed to highlight best practices and creative ideas.
The Regenerate Wheat Ridge program recently wrapped up its second season and offers monthly community workshops on regenerative agriculture topics, facilitated a landowner-producer partnership to expand food production in Wheat Ridge, and created a technical assistance guide as a model for other communities looking to develop similar programming. The Jefferson Conservation District was a founding partner and the Sustainable Wheat Ridge resident committee is an ongoing partner.
Department staff also led an educational session on the program during the conference. Councilmember Amanda Weaver, former Jefferson Conservation District employee and current Sustainable Wheat Ridge member Amy DePierre, and Wheat Ridge Parks and Recreation staff accepted the award on behalf of the department.