Tara’s Takes
We’re six months into our new website and we’re still learning things. We do know that there are multiple advantages to this new website such as being able to purchase a subscription online.
However, there is a special feature that we added to our website that has gone under utilized — one that we added to help bring the community to events.
That added feature is our community calendar. On the top bar of our website, there is an “Events” category. If you click on it today, it says “no events.” Now, we all know that there are constantly events happening in Tracy and the surrounding communities. The events tab should never say ‘No events.”
However, right below “no events”, there is a “submit an event” form. This is the part that is missing. We invite all non-profits, churches, groups and organizations to submit their events. It’s a very simple form that flyers and social media pages can be attached to as well. In a simple online form you can do from home or at an organizational meeting, in 10 questions, you can submit your event.
Once submitted, I receive an email and can post it to our calendar.
This community calendar serves three purposes.
First, it helps get the word out about upcoming events. It lets families and community members make plans to attend events they have attended for years, or try new events. It allows people to see the wide variety of things to do in our area.
Secondly, one of the hardest parts of planning an event is trying not to overlap with other events. This calendar helps there, too!
If community events are planned at the same time, people are forced to pick and choose. With a centralized community calendar, you can check what else is on the calendar before you plan your event. The best part: You can submit your events as soon as you plan them! Got an event next week, next month or next year? Submit them to the calendar so people can plan.
And finally, one of the hardest parts of our job is making sure we know about all the events. Yes, we try to keep our hand on the pulse of all things community, but events are planned and we are sometimes the forgotten one that wasn’t told. Many times, we’re left checking bulletin boards for upcoming events or, worse yet, seeing a Facebook post after the event that we would have came and covered. The community calendar also gives us an opportunity to be able to showcase all the events happening in our area.
With that being said, we are entering a very busy time of year. From Halloween through the end of the year, there are many, many events. There are even events being planned into 2026.
Now is the time to get those on the calendar. Be the first to submit your event — for next week or for 2026!
I look forward to a swarm of event emails over the next few days and can’t wait to start filling up the calendar!
