Keep League City Beautiful Citizen Committee

Meeting Minutes October 4, 2023 Keep League City Beautiful Citizen Committee 6:00 PM The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM by Jackie Liddell. Present were Frank Zgonc, Beth Sears, Jackie Liddell, Lisette McClung, and Dave Bowman. Also present for the meeting was Artist Adam Socie, Director of Communications and Community Engagement Sarah Osborne, Convention and Visitors’ Bureau Manager Stephanie Polk, and Parks Coordinator John Orsag. A motion to approve the minutes from the September 5 meeting was made by Dave Bowman and seconded by Frank Zgonc. All present agreed to approve the minutes. Polk gave an update about the new League City Visitors Center. She mentioned that the building was once the Station Master House for the Railroad. The house was just recently restored and will now become the League City Visitor Center. It will be opening at the end of October and will include the Soul Freak Café. They will sell coffee, snacks, and drinks. They will also have an art room as well as additional items for sale. There will even be a self-service Visitor Center in one of the rooms. Osborne and Socie discussed the building mural that will be painted on the side of the shopping center located on the corner of I-45 and FM 518. This project will begin in January 2024. Some changes to the mural were discussed. This included the following: the group wanted the design to look more like a creek and to be more accurate to the area; they also discussed getting rid of the City logo, moving the oar/paddle, rearranging the canoe, and adding a dog. Polk and Osborne next talked about the FeatherFest Art Event that will be held in League City during the upcoming 2024 Galveston FeatherFest. This event will feature 100 bird paintings to be created by local artists and installed at the Civic Center’s Public Art Gallery in April during Spring Migration. A special open house with the artists and the public would take place one night during the Galveston FeatherFest. This would help encourage attendees to visit League City and learn about our birding hotspots. There would be music, food, beer, wine, a plein-air painting of live birds, several silent auction items, and attendees could purchase any of the 100 bird paintings for around $50-$100 each. All 100 12”x12” bird paintings would be painted before the event and would need to be turned in by April 1. Every painting would be donated by each artist. A large email invite would be sent out to the art and birding communities, as well as to all White Linen Night vendors. Osborne then led a discussion about Saturday Night Jazz Nights in 2024. The event would include both a lecture series and a live Jazz concert series on the same night. These events would take place February 24, March 23, and April 27, from 7 PM - 10 PM. The lecture series/class could take place in the Blue Building earlier in the afternoon, and then the live Jazz concert could take place in League Park that night. Osborne next gave an update on city art projects. The traffic box on the corner of SH 96 and Market Place at Ninety-Six was recently completed. There have been 7 art submissions so far from 4 different artists for the wrap contest (deadline is November 3). The gateway signage on FM 270 and SH 3 have been updated with the new logo and lettering. Plans are in the works to also update the signs at Hometown Heroes Park and the Municipal Complex on Walker Street. It was also mentioned that Sarah will have a booth at the upcoming Harvest Festival at League Park on October 14, and that the month of October is Biketober (used to encourage people to ride their bikes to school, work, etc. during the month of October). Osborne then talked about the upcoming Art Gallery for January - March 2024. Still trying to see if an Art Teacher/Art Student at UHCL can head up the next Art Gallery that would focus on student artwork. Orsag next gave the group an update about nature and conservation projects and events. The September 9 Trash Free Texas Cleanup Event at Lynn Gripon Park at Countryside was a huge accomplishment. There was a total of 44 individuals who showed up to participate and collect over 200 pounds of trash. Eco Fest which was held on September 16 was also a success. There were over 30 vendor booths inside the gyms, and over 1,000 people attended the 4-hour event. All 370 trees were handed out in less than 3 hours and the Native Plant Sale went very well. Some upcoming events are as follows: November 1 will be a conservation event with the Galveston Bay Area Master Naturalists at the Dick Benoit Prairie Preserve. Then on November 4, there will be another conservation event at the Dr. Ned and Fay Dudney Clear Creek Nature Center with the Galveston Bay Foundation. Also, November 4 will be Texas Arbor Day. We will be handing out 200 free tree seedlings that day at Helen Hall Library. Also worth noting is the Eagle Scout Beehive Project at the Nature Center. This project will be completed once the Nature Center reopens later this year. Finally, the Native Plant Society of Texas Clear Lake Chapter will be presenting Helen Hall Library with 100 seed packets of Native Seed in the upcoming weeks as a donation to its Seed Library. Dave Bowman also spoke up during this time and mentioned an upcoming Lions Club Event called The Big Serve. The event will take place on November 11. This will be a cleanup event and the Lions Club needs someone to coordinate it and find a location to clean up. League City could provide supplies and coordination of the event. It was thought that Magnolia Creek would be a good location to focus on. Only one member of the Committee then provided comments to the group. Dave Bowman asked if Osborne could email him the new City logo so that Mike Stone could use it for his Clear Creek Cleanup Event for advertising purposes. The meeting was adjourned at 7:54 PM.