ABOVE: Dorothy Malo, Ruby Bents and Ruth Swanson chat over ice cream during the Courtyard Summer Social event for resident and non-resident seniors on Wednesday afternoon, at Vista Prairie at Goldfinch Estates in Fairmont.

FAIRMONT — Vista Prairie at Goldfinch Estates senior living facility in Fairmont is building connections and bridging resident and non-resident seniors with monthly community events. 

“I think our biggest goal that we have is making sure the community knows that we’re here and creates those meaningful relationships with seniors throughout our community, along with fostering the ones that we have in our community,” said Executive Director Ann Logan. 

Starting just six months ago, Goldfinch chooses a different event type per month to reach a variety of seniors’ interests, including bingo, ice cream socials, comedy events and more. Now that summer is here, they’re gravitating toward summer-themed events for the seniors. The seniors recently concluded the Courtyard Summer Social, which was held from 2 to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24 and had about 20 people in attendance.

According to Logan, the event aimed to increase social engagement, build strong bonds between resident and non-resident seniors in the community, welcome interested seniors into the facility to explore the environment and lifestyle and let seniors know that Goldfinch is a resource for them. 

“Our community is relatively small, right? The population is a decent size. But we are still small. We like to say we are known in the community. However, just because you’re known doesn’t mean that you are able to create relationships with people. So, we really wanted to give everyone the opportunity to come in, visit and see what we’re about. All of that, and create those relationships with people,” Logan explained. 

She said that these community events at Goldfinch have received great response from both resident and non-resident seniors. 

“Very good reception. Depending on what the community event is, we’ve had some with more participation from the community than others. I think that’s why we’re trying really hard to do a different variety to see what captures most people’s interest. The residents… They love the community events. They love to see people coming in. They love to connect with previous people they’ve known, and just have a good time and socialize with each other,” Logan recounted. 

In addition, watching the seniors connect has been very rewarding for Logan and the staff. 

“A lot of our leadership puts a lot of effort into these. Whether it be marketing it to the community so they know about it or making sure all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed. We have a lot of fun doing it. It’s a lot of fun to watch. Those connections happen, or if someone is super interested, and they ask you questions, you get to tell them a day in the life,” Logan said. 

She said that Goldfinch is very activity-oriented, and would like to welcome all interested seniors to join the facility for its events.