FAIRMONT — After an eternity, spring is finally here and summer is on its way.

Along with the warmer weather and longer days will come many new ways to stay busy and active through Fairmont Community Education and Recreation. Roni Dauer, CER director, said people should watch for the CER spring and summer booklet, which should be delivered in the mail this weekend or early next week.

CER offers educational and entertaining activities for people of all ages. It sends out two booklets per year with times, dates, prices and locations of classes and events. The spring booklet will include activities from April through September.

Dauer is always on the lookout for new things to offer to the community, and the upcoming months will offer many new opportunities.

One addition is several gardening classes taught by a master gardener through the U of M Extension program. The sessions include small space vegetable gardening from 6-7 p.m. April 17 and a class on growing a healthy community for pollinators from 10-11:30 a.m. June 10.

A class about tower gardening will be offered from 8:30-9:30 a.m. April 11. The class is free.

“We wrote a grant to the urban ag department and that’s how we’re getting the tower gardens in here,” Dauer explained. “The class will be talking about what tower gardens actually are.”

Mark Nass, who once taught art and was principal at Truman Public School, will teach several new classes, including calligraphy; pen and ink drawing; and cake-decorating. The calligraphy class will take place from 6-7:30 p.m. May 7 while the pen and ink class will be held from 6-8 p.m. May 14. Along with Nass’ cake-decorating class, from 6-8:30 p.m. May 22, the popular cake decorating classes taught by Fareway will continue in April and May, although they will be put on hold during the summer because Fareway gets busy with weddings.

An Into to Instant Pot cooking class will be held from 6-8 p.m. April 11 at Fairmont High School. A next-level Instant Pot cooking class will be held from 6-8 p.m. April 16, also at the high school.

“That’s taught by the Women of Today,” Dauer noted. “It’s a fundraiser for them. They do a great job and there’s taste-testing included.”

A new program will be the summer coffee club, which will take place at 9 a.m. on the first Wednesday of every month through August in the CER office. The coffee club is a spinoff of the Newcomers and Neighbors group sponsored by the Fairmont Area Chamber of Commerce.

A new and exploratory program, a Summer Symphony, led by Fairmont Area Schools music instructors Kim Breamer and Katie Koening, will take place from 6:30-7:30 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays from June 17 through July 18 in the Fairmont High School orchestra room. It is open to all Martin County residents. Those who play strings, brass, percussion and woodwinds are welcome. If people do not have an instrument but would like to participate, instruments will be available.

“Several new sessions for youth will be offered during the day,” Dauer said. “We’re not doing camps at Cedar Creek Park like we used to. There’s three different ones.”

These include: Kids in the Kitchen, Box City, and Story Time and Crafts.

A high kick dance camp is a new offering for youth entering grades 4-7. The camp will be held 1-3 p.m. June 20-21 in the high school gym. It will be led by Courtney Steuber, Lisa Carlson and members of Fairmont Dance Team.

Exploring theater arts is for children entering grades 3-6 who are interested in performing arts. It will take place 1-3 p.m. July 8-11 in the Fairmont Elementary School cafeteria. Instructors will be Sara Gudahl and Courtney Steuber.

The CER booklet will include information about other popular sports camps and programs, as well as popular general interest classes such as dog obedience, computer classes, firearm safety training and more.

“We print 10,000 booklets and they’re mailed out to people with Fairmont, Ceylon, Northrop and Armstrong post office addresses. We also have an out-of-town mailing list,” Dauer explained.

Booklets also are dropped off at fast food restaurants, grocery stores, the library and a few other places in town.

More information on dates, times and costs can be found in the booklet. People can register for classes and activities online at www.fairmont.k12.mn.us/cer. For more information, call the CER office at (507) 235-3141.