EVENTS
The TPNA stages three events annually: a garage
sale, a picnic, and a holiday lights contest. Planning for these events
starts well in advance at Steering Committee meetings.
The TPNA stages three events annually: a garage
sale, a picnic, and a holiday lights contest. Planning for these events
starts well in advance at Steering Committee meetings.
|
GARAGE SALE
Every summer the TPNA sponsors a neighborhood garage sale. It takes place on a Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Residents sell their goods at their own home. Sometimes close-by families combine their goods at one house. The intention is to schedule it when there is no other community event taking place. Since 2018 the sale has been a simple affair. Advertising is done in the TPNA newsletter, on the home page of this website, on Nextdoor.com, and on sandwich boards posted along the streets. The sale of 2019 was low-key, with modest participation. Before 2018 the event was more complicated and better attended. It involved signing up in advance and paying a fee to participate. Those actions supported advertising in a local newspaper and facilitated the production of a map showing where sales were taking place. The TPNA advertised the event in a local newspaper, on its website, and on sandwich boards posted at neighborhood exit points. Laura Silbernagel, a past president of the TPNA, successfully managed the garage sale in that manner for several years, but with her resignation we were forced to simplify the affair. Due to COVID-19 no garage sale was scheduled for 2020. (Last revised June 25, 2020) |
PICNIC
The TPNA picnic has been held every year in July near the recreation building in the park in Tiffany Park. A raffle is held to award prizes to attendees. Tables, chairs, and supplies are provided. Kids are welcome. The City of Renton used to provide some food to supplement the potluck dishes brought by residents, though in 2015 this was scaled back. There was no picnic in 2018 and 2019 due to a shortage of volunteers. Due to COVID-19 no picnic was scheduled for 2020. (Last revised June 25, 2020) |
HOLIDAY LIGHTS CONTEST
The TPNA stages a contest just before Christmas to honor the owners of well-decorated homes in the neighborhood. The original process, in effect through December 2017, was to have volunteer judges evaluate the displays and pick the three best ones to receive a modest prize. No house could win first place two years in a row. In 2018 the process changed, as described in the report below. 2018 report: For the 2018 Holiday Lights Contest we decided to do things differently. In past years we gave awards for the top three displays. This year, we decided it would be much more fun to thank all of our neighbors who put up holiday lights. So we set out to design a simple card saying "Thank you from the Tiffany Park Neighborhood Association". We printed 100 of them, and then attached a simple lottery scratch ticket to each one. The lottery ticket was our way of acknowledging our neighbors for making the neighborhood seem bright and cheery during the darkest days of the year. We hoped it would add a bit of 'excitement' to the card. In the evening of Saturday, December 15th, we drove through the neighborhood and put the cards near the front door of each house that had holidays lights. It went quickly and without incident, and it was gratifying see all the lit-up houses. The only disappointment was that we ran out of thank-you cards before getting to the final 20 or so houses with lights. In our initial project discussion we felt that 100 cards would be enough, but true to Murphy's Law, something had to be a bit off. For those of you whom we missed, please accept our apology for not acknowledging your effort, but know that we truly appreciate you anyway. If we do the Holiday Lights Contest this way again, we will be sure to pre-count the houses and make the right amount of cards. We welcome your feedback on the Holiday Lights Contest. Do you like the idea of thanking everyone, or would you prefer the traditional system of honoring only the top three houses? If you have an idea for an alternate approach, let us know. If you would like to help out with the Holiday Lights Contest, please contact the president of the Tiffany Park Neighborhood Association around next November to see what's happening and how you can be involved. Again, thank you everyone who put up holiday lights. The neighborhood atmosphere was greatly uplifted for the holiday season. My best, Reid Heimbeck 2019 report: Scheduling problems prevented staging of the event . (Last revised June 25, 2020) |