ABOVE: Merrick Engstrom and Irah Eisenbacher race for the ball, eager to score, during the Lacrosse Clinic on Tuesday afternoon at the Jeffrey Kot Fields Soccer Complex in Fairmont. The program is for children in grades kindergarten to 5, taught by Mike Hobbs and offered by Community Education and Recreation. To register for CER’s programs, visit www.fairmont.k12.mn.us/o/cer or contact (507) 235-3141. Photo by Vanessa Schultze

FAIRMONT – After a record-high for summer programming, Fairmont Community Education and Recreation (CER) is offering a total of 87 programs for the fall season.

This is more than double their 2024 total, which featured 39 listings, and comes after 90 offerings in the 2025 summer catalog. CER Director Stephanie Busiahn said generally there’s a dropoff from summer to fall, but this year the numbers were relatively close.

“That is in part to having a great team here,” she said. “Building synergies, reaching out to new instructors, creating relationships and partnerships that allow us to continue to add new offerings season over season.”

When it comes to timing, Busiahn said it is always hectic getting the fall brochure together.

“We start planning for the fall brochure in the middle of peak for us,” she said. “Summer is always our busiest time. Mid July is usually when we kind of start that seeking, to get that out the first part of August.”

The biggest change between summer and fall activities is the timing, according to Busiahn

“A lot of them shift to early evening based on the fact that a bulk of our offerings are a lot of that school-aged,” she said. “Kiddos are in school all day. [We’re] looking at, how do we fill their time in the early evening?”

In addition to the time change, Busiahn said they are also adding new dates to their programs.

“Last year we did not do any non-school day [events],” she said. “Now we’re touching MEA, Thanksgiving break, Christmas break.”

Categories for programs include technology, GED and English Language Learners, youth sports and activities, health and wellness and a broader scope that falls under general interests.

New offerings include youth cooking classes, which had been requested in the past, an adult learn to skate option and a course from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, which has a deadline to register of the 19th.

A month into the brochure being offered, Busiahn said there have been over 250 registrations across all open events. She said some activities have bubbled to the top in popularity, with some surprises.

“A crystal singing bowl healing session is nearing our max,” Busiahn said. “I was pleasantly surprised to see that type of interest so quickly. We have a boys fast break, and three-on-three [basketball] that happens in the fall. A girls’ basketball option yet this fall, dance clinic, all very popular. A lot of our sports offerings we see with high registration numbers year over year.”

Looking forward, Busiahn said CER is looking to continue creating and strengthening relationships between themselves, program leaders and participants.

“Having the opportunity to create really strong partnerships throughout the community,” she said. “I think that will continue to bring new instructors and new course offerings to our community, which I’m very excited about. So much of that comes from the fantastic people we have right here, all of the experts that we have living within our community or our area.”

For more information or to register for a class, visit fairmont.k12.mn.us/o/cer or call 507-235-3141.