ABOVE: Crystal and Neil Hanson talk to the students in the new Jr. Cardinal Cross County Program. The program, led by the Hansons and facilitated through Fairmont Community Education and Recreation, kicked off this week with 22 students registered.

FAIRMONT– Last week Fairmont Community Education and Recreation (CER) released its fall brochure, which includes a number of new offerings. This upcoming season’s brochure is exclusively online.

While CER’s summer brochure–which is the largest– is still printed, last year was the first time CER opted to have its fall, winter and spring brochures available in digital format only.

“The great part about it is it really extends our time to add offerings for the brochure. We run into extensive deadlines with making sure we have all info before we have to send it to the printer,” said CER Director, Stephanie Busiahn.

However, Busiahn said they’re still working on finding the best way to let the community know about the digital brochure, as the printed ones are automatically mailed out to each household.

“We’re testing the waters on what works, whether word of mouth, advertising in the paper or on the radio or sending emails. We’re trying to find ways to connect to people, knowing not everyone is online,” Busiahn said.

Though she noted that the vast majority of their registrations are done online via the CER webstore, with a few being done over the phone.

Both the webstore and the fall 2023 brochure can be found online at fairmont.k12.mn.us under the Community Education and Recreation tab.

“You can flip through it. We wanted to make sure it had a similar look and feel as if you were flipping through the printed one,” Busiahn said.

She explained that each offering also has a registration link embedded in the title of the class or program, which makes registering for it very easy.

The majority of the offerings don’t start until late September or Early October. Busiahn noted that at the end of August through early September everyone is wrapping up summer and families are adjusting to their schedules once school starts.

“The things that do start in September would have most likely been advertised in our summer brochure,” Busiahn said.

One new offering that kicked off this week is a new youth cross country program. Registration was done through CER but the program is led by Neil and Crystal Hanson.

“What really allowed that to happen were Neil and Crystal. We (CER) are here to help facilitate and be a partner for the logistical pieces, but it very much takes a community champion to move something forward and that’s exactly what they are,” Busiahn said.

Crystal said that she and Neil, who are both passionate about running, wanted to provide an opportunity for younger kids to gain some experience with cross country.

“The first opportunity they have to try out the sport of cross country isn’t until they’re in seventh grade. We wanted to find a way to introduce them to the sport,” Crystal said.

She noted that so many youth sports, like soccer, basketball and hockey start when students are young, nearly toddlers, and they wanted to try to reach kids at a younger age as well.

“We think it’s something that all kids of all abilities can do. I love what it does to kid’s self-esteem and confidence and watching them all go out for their personal best. It’s such a neat environment and we wanted to give kids the opportunity to try something different,” Crystal said.

For its first year, there are 22 students grades 4 through 6 signed up for the program. The program is for an hour two days a week and will run through Oct. 12.

“It’s a great group of kids. On day one we went out for a one mile run and they all did it with some breaks along the way. We’re excited to see them get better and watch their confidence grow,” Crystal said.

Those in the program will participate in a few races later in the season. They will also run at the home I-90 meet this fall and run the last mile with the varsity cross country team as it brings in the football ahead of the homecoming game.

As for offerings in the fall brochure, information on a range of other youth sports can be found. For boy’s basketball, there’s both a three-on-three league and a Saturday morning league.

“The three-on-three is for grades 3 through 6. That starts Oct. 23. The Saturday boy’s basketball doesn’t start until January,” Busiahn said.

Girl’s basketball starts Oct. 9 and will be offered after school.

Information on the popular learn to skate and learn to play hockey programs can also be found in the brochure. Registration is open now though neither starts until November.

“Archery is back. We have Archery I and II. It’s for grades 5 through adult. It’s an interesting class because we have 11 and 12-year-olds and we have 43-year-olds,” Busiahn said.

There’s also another offering of baton twirling which starts Sept. 26. Tiny tots, a camp for children ages 3 to 5, along with a parent or grandparent, will be held in October.

“That one usually fills up pretty fast,” Busiahn said.

Information on Fairmont Dance Team’s dance clinic can also be found in the brochure. The clinic will not be held until January but registration can be done now.

Another new offering is a card making class, which will be on Sept. 26 and Nov. 7. The class will be offered over the span of five hours but as a come and go class, people can attend when it works for them. The class is open to a wide age range but those under age 13 should be accompanied by and adult.

“Belle Harder is offering the class. She called us– she had been doing things pre-Covid– and said she wanted to start offering classes again,” said Busiahn.

In the late fall, a CAB (childhood and babysitting) safety class, as well as a home alone safety class will be offered. CAB is for those grades 4 and up while the home alone safety class is for those grades 2 and up.

“Smith’s Greenhouse is doing spruce pots again. They offered that last year and we saw some success there,” Busiahn said.

The class will be held on both Nov. 11 and Nov. 18.

“Our health and wellness online and virtual class with Janice Novak have been popular. There’s some interesting topics that people may not have access to otherwise,” Busiahn said.

Some of these classes include women, weight and hormones, metabolism boosters and busters and techniques to calm, center and balance.

While the aforementioned classes and programs can be found in the brochure now, Busiahn said there are other classes currently in the works.

“I definitely foresee additional programs landing on the webstore. That’ the other great thing about the online brochure, after it’s gone live, we can still plug it in,” Busiahn said.