Recently, the Community Services Department learned that it won two awards from the Texas Recreation and Parks Society North Region. The Southlake Senior Activity Center’s Floral Friends Program won the Excellence in Programming Award (Class II). The Southlake Arts Council won the Arts and Humanities Programming Award (Class II) for the Southlake Presents Art Show and Competition. These two awards represent our community’s commitment to excellence in the field of Recreation. We are proud to receive this recognition because these two programs highlight the extraordinary efforts of Southlake residents. Let’s learn a bit more about each award. Floral Friends Program The Floral Friends program is simple. Every week, a senior center member picks up unsold flowers from a local grocer through a community partnership and delivers them to the Senior Activity Center. Once dropped off, another group of volunteer seniors works on arranging the flowers into masterpieces that elevate the visitor experience at Legends Hall. The Floral Friends program unites our senior volunteers through the common goals of learning, taking pride in their shared space, and bringing joy to those who utilize the facility. They work hard to make the Senior Activity Center at The Marq a home away from home for visitors and employees alike! This cost-neutral program also strengthened community relations and improved waste reduction while providing vital social and creative interactions for our active adults. The benefits of this program are three-fold. It builds a long-lasting partnership with a local business, reduces waste by utilizing unsellable flowers through an in-kind donation, provides an avenue for a low-to-no-cost program for the senior center, and brings our Senior community joy. Talent-sharing, catering to the needs of our senior community and supporting our local businesses perfectly tie into the City of Southlake’s Strategy Map principle of Partnership and Volunteerism. The Southlake Senior Activity Center is so proud of our Floral Friends volunteers for being recognized for their dedication to beautifying our shared spaces. Southlake Presents Art Show and Competition The Southlake Presents Art Show and Competition was the brainchild of the Southlake Arts Council. It was brought to life by a partnership that included City staff, Arts Council members, the APEX Arts League, and local Southlake artists. The Southlake Arts Council desired to emphasize the significance of the arts in Southlake by mounting a public art exhibit that only featured pieces created by Southlake residents for the first time. Planning began in early 2022, and the application period lasted from January to March 15. The program was advertised on the City’s social media, the Experience Southlake website, and My Southlake News. Twenty-four local artists entered over 70 original pieces into the competition by the time the deadline rolled around. The Southlake Arts Council selected 15 unique pieces ranging from oil and watercolor on canvas, photography, and mixed media, to quilt art for the exhibit. In addition to the exhibit, the City of Southlake, the Southlake Arts Council, and the APEX Arts League partner to provide a public art reception to kick off every new public art display in the Town Hall. The Southlake Presents Art Show Reception was on Sunday, May 1, at 5:00 PM in the Town Hall Lobby. Participating artists and their families came to celebrate their art and answer questions. Congratulations to our Senior Activity Center Floral Friends volunteers and the Southlake Arts Council for being recognized for your extraordinary commitment to strengthening our community. The Community Services Department will publicly accept both awards at the TRAPS North Region Conference at the Irving Convention Center on Thursday, November 3.