FAIRMONT– Last week residents should have received the Fairmont Community Education and Recreation (CER) summer 2023 catalog in the mail. The booklet is full of many learning and leisure opportunities for people of all ages, including a number of new offerings.

While CER has transitioned into offering its fall/winter and spring catalog digitally online, the summer catalog, which is the largest, is still being offered in paper copy.

CER Director, Stephanie Busiahn, said that the catalog essentially covers classes and activities which run from May through August.

When it comes to offerings for adults, Busiahn said they are continuing to offer some online classes over Zoom with Janice Novak. Novak has a master’s degree in health and physical education and offers classes on acupressure, thyroid information, breathing techniques, premenopause/menopause and more.

“There are a few added adult classes that are new,” Busiahn said.

These include planning for long-term care, which is a free class offered by an area law firm. There is also a new class on food labels.

“That’s something we’ve heard some comments on. It’s a multi-faceted approach on food labels if you’ve been diagnosed with diabetes or want to lose weight or were put on a special diet… there are all kind of reasons. Food labels can be kind of scary,” Busiahn said.

CER has also partnered with the Fairmont Police Department, which will offer a number of free classes in May. A class on May 2 will provide information on phone scams. Another class on May 9 will cover internet scams and online safety and on May 16 there will be a class on personal safety.

There are a number of new offerings for youth as well and some are taught by new instructors.

“Kim (Koppen), a retired art teacher at the elementary school, does a fantastic job. We’re excited for those classes,” Busiahn said.

Koppen will teach some class in June on clay creation and some in July on acrylic painting.

With the addition of new staff member, John Bartscher, who joined CER late last summer, several new youth activities and week-long camps have been added. These include legend quest, grand prix, laser tag, imagination station and Survivor. Most of the activities take place outdoors and Busiahn pointed out they’re a good way to keep kids active as not every child is interested in sports. Those are all $25.

“It’s essentially a full week of two hours a day to get kids out and busy. We try to keep our prices low to build interest,” Busiahn said.

There will be three levels of baton twirling, taught by Marilyn Fritzinger, offered in June. Baton twirling has long been a popular class. Archery, taught by Chris Engelby, are also popular returning classes.

Speaking of popularity, CER also has information on its youth sports and camps in the summer catalog. Soccer, flag football and T-ball have seen some of the highest participation numbers in any CER classes and more recently, record numbers.

“Last year we saw some very high record numbers for T-ball and flag football. In T-ball we had about 90 kids and for flag football we had 89 kids. The previous year we had 45,” Busiahn said.

Busiahn said they have struggled to get volunteer coaches and as interest grows, it’s more important now than ever to find coaches or CER may have to start capping the number of participants in these activities.

“There are a couple of individuals extremely passionate about cross country that are starting a cross county offering which is new this year,” Busiahn said.

The elementary cross county program is for youth in grades 4 through 6 and will take place from August through September.

CER will also be bringing back Emily Lubenow to run the popular playground program this summer and Busiahn said the office will again have an intern through the Martin County/Minnesota Valley Action Council internship program.

Busiahn extended appreciation for other CER staff members, Bartscher and Kris Seifert.

“There’s the perfect balance of having a great team with Kris knowing the ins and outs and doing what she does very well and John having new and fresh ideas and bringing those ideas to fruition with programs,” Busiahn said.

She stressed that CER is always open to hearing ideas about other classes and activities. She said it may take some time to find a location or instructor but that they want to hear what the community wants.

People can register for any CER class and activities by calling 507-235-3141 or through the webstore found at fairmont.k12.mn.us.

“I’m really excited. I think there’s a lot of really great offerings,” Busiahn said.