Leadership Class to Bring 'Parks and Rec' Harvest Festival to Block 34 for Life Center Fundraiser

When Leadership Stillwater Class 34 member Mary Elizabeth Cordia sat at her booth during a local market, scrolling through text messages about fall festival ideas, inspiration struck from an unlikely source: a television sitcom.

"My fiance and I just finished rewatching Parks and Rec," Cordia said. "And I'm looking at Block 34 as I'm sitting at market [34]. And I'm like, and we're Class 34. I'm like, what about the Harvest Festival?"

That lightbulb moment has evolved into a full-scale community fundraiser scheduled for Nov. 1 at Block 34, with all proceeds benefiting Life Center Adult Day Services' effort to purchase a reliable bus for client transportation.

The event will feature food trucks, live music, vendor booths, a petting zoo with mini horses BB and Buddy, free activities from Prairie Arts Center, and a bike parade organized with District Bicycles. Activities run from 4-10 p.m., starting family-friendly and transitioning to appeal to the adult crowd as evening approaches.

"We have a lot of competitive people," Cordia said, explaining the class's ambitious $50,000 fundraising goal — matching a record set by a previous Leadership Stillwater class that was allowed to pass collection buckets at an Oklahoma State University football game.

"They were like, don't worry, like the class that raised 50,000, they got to pass buckets. You don't get to pass buckets," Cordia said. "We wanted to prove a point that you don't need to pass buckets to raise money."

From Pawnee to Stillwater: How a Sitcom Inspired a Fundraiser

NBC's "Parks and Recreation" aired from 2009 to 2015, following the quirky employees of the Parks Department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Beginning in Season 3, the show introduced the Harvest Festival as a major storyline where protagonist Leslie Knope, played by Amy Poehler, organized a community fundraiser to save the Parks Department's budget.

The fictional festival featured vendors, activities, carnival games and Pawnee's beloved miniature horse, Li'l Sebastian, a character whose death in Season 3 became one of the show's most memorable moments.

The triple connection — Parks and Rec's Harvest Festival, Block 34, and Leadership Class 34 — seemed too perfect to ignore. Cordia texted the idea to her classmates, asking "who's seen Parks and Rec?"

About half the class had watched the show. The other half, Cordia said, went back and at least watched Season 3 to understand the reference. The Harvest Festival storyline begins in Season 3, Episode 7.

Like the show's fictional event, Stillwater's version will feature many of the same elements: vendors, activities, food, and even a miniature horse named BB — Stillwater's answer to Li'l Sebastian. BB will be joined by his best friend named Buddy, who organizers say actually resembles the famous TV miniature horse.

Don't call them ponies! Buddy, top left, is a roan miniature horse and Baxter, also know as BB, is a royally bred mini black gelding who reside at Turning Point Ranch in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Gideon was the real mini horse who played Li'l Sebastian in the NBC comedy television series, Parks and Recreation. Gideon cameoed Li'l Sebastian in NBC's The Good Place in 2018 and spent his final years retired on a 150-acre ranch in California. – Turning Point Ranch/NBC

BB and Buddy serve as mobile therapy animals for Turning Point Ranch in Stillwater. The pair travels to community events, schools and assisted living facilities to provide equine-assisted therapy.

The class is hoping their real-world version proves as successful as Leslie Knope's fictional fundraiser, with a $50,000 goal that would match Leadership Stillwater's fundraising record.

Breaking down transportation barriers

For Life Center Adult Day Services, the fundraiser addresses a critical operational challenge: a chronically unreliable bus that has cost the organization approximately $8,000 in repairs over recent years.

Executive Director Maribeth Outhier said the aging vehicle required drivers to manually disconnect the battery before and after each use, and even then, it frequently wouldn't start.

"We've had this problem for years and years," Outhier said. "So we wanted to get a new reliable bus because a roadblock for a lot of our participants and people that call us is, well, they want to come here. They don't have a way to get here."

Current transportation options fall short for many potential clients. OSU-Stillwater transit doesn't serve areas outside city limits, and the Trolley taxi service from Cushing costs $30 one way, a prohibitive expense for seniors on fixed incomes making daily trips.

"We wanted to be able to provide transportation to those that cannot get to us," Outhier said.

The Life Center currently serves approximately 26 enrolled clients, though daily attendance ranges from 12 to 19. The organization is licensed to serve up to 40 participants.

Festival details and community support

The Harvest Festival has attracted widespread community enthusiasm since Class 34 announced the event. Cordia said multiple vendors have already reached out requesting booth space.

Prairie Arts Center will provide art activities and donate supplies. Starla Halcomb, a classmate whose husband works with the fire department, is coordinating a touch-a-truck display with fire trucks and police cars. First Baptist Church donated use of its grass lot near Block 34 for the petting zoo animals. The class is working to secure Stillwater Milling Companies help with animal enclosures so BB and Buddy can remain at the festival from 4-10 p.m.

District Bicycles will host a $5 bike parade that coincides with Nov. 1 being the first day to register for the 2026 Mid South cycling and running event, potentially drawing parade participants from Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

Three food trucks have committed, with organizers hoping to add Stonecloud and Iron Monk breweries. The class has reached out to performers for live music, though organizers declined to name potential acts before contracts are finalized.

Bobby Wintle, director of The Mid South endurance festival and promoter at the The Bait Shop music venue, is helping coordinate live music along with Jared Beckstrom, who manages the Block 34 Live concert series.

"Everybody basically in the community has been amazing so far," Cordia, owner of Motion Media said. "Everyone seems really excited about it. I've had three people this morning be like, 'do you know who's running the Harvest Festival? Can I be a vendor?'"

Revenue will come from vendor fees, sponsorships and direct donations through QR codes at free activity booths. All proceeds flow through a fundraising webpage into a dedicated savings account that will accrue interest before funds transfer to the Life Center.

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A quick but democratic decision

The class's selection process moved swiftly but deliberately. After hearing pitches from Life Center, Mission of Hope and Girl Scouts, the 25 class members conducted an initial vote that split nearly three ways. Seven votes for each option, with four people undecided.

"We literally were seven, seven, seven," Cordia said.

The class agreed to eliminate one option, then gave each member uninterrupted time to speak about the remaining two organizations. By the end of that process, opinions had coalesced towards the Life Center.

"We gave everybody the time to speak," Cordia said. "By the end of the circle, they were like, 'Oh wait, maybe I was...' and you could tell people's opinions were already changing."

The structured approach ensured all voices were heard, including quieter members who might have been overshadowed in open discussion.

Colton Jones, business operations manager at OSU Career Services, said the Life Center's clear vision made the decision easier.

"When Maribeth presented, I think she just had the clearest picture of what their actual needs were and what the mission was that they were trying to accomplish," Jones said. "And it would be really, really awesome to help them with their van, but with the Life Center, they just serve such a critical need to the population."

Class 34 member Katie Brown, corporate counsel for OnCue, noted the broader impact the Life Center can make.

"It's something that can impact everybody," Brown said. "Everybody can have a family member ... that they're gonna have that need."

The class also discussed potentially splitting funds between organizations but ultimately decided to focus entirely on the Life Center.

"We decided we were like, 'no, we need to put full force effort into one organization,'" Cordia said.

A personal discovery

The fundraiser became deeply personal for Jones after the class selected Life Center as their nonprofit partner. Only then did Jones' grandmother share that his great-grandfather had attended the center during the final years of his life.

Jones' great-grandfather, Kenneth Ellington, had farmed land near Ripley and Ingalls for decades. After his wife passed away in the early 1990s, his health deteriorated, but he resisted full-time residential care.

"My uncle and my grandma just couldn't provide that because they needed to work full-time to sustain livelihood as well," Jones said. "They were exploring options and exploring options and stressing that, you know, there was nothing out there."

When Jones' uncle discovered the Life Center, he convinced his grandfather to try it for one day. That single day changed everything.

"When he came in, there was another guy here that was an old connection ... that he hadn't seen or heard from in 20 to 25 years," Jones said. The two reconnected and bonded over dominoes, which they played together daily.

Jones' great-grandfather attended the center regularly from approximately 1998 until his death in 2002.

"It was just such a crazy shift in his quality of life and just the things, you know, that my family was able to do and sustain because of the Life Center," Jones said.

Restoring dignity and purpose

The Life Center's mission extends far beyond basic care. Founded in 1983 by community members who identified a need for adult-based services, the organization has spent four decades providing what Outhier calls the most important service: purpose.

"A lot of our participants, before they come to us, maybe they're just at home all day. They're not really doing a whole lot," Outhier said. "They've worked their whole lives. They've had purpose until something disabled them."

The center provides assistance with activities of daily living, but Outhier emphasized that's not the primary focus.

"That's really not the most important piece of what we do. The purpose that we provide them is the most important thing. The friendships," Outheir said, recounting two women holding hands as they entered the building. "When they come here, everybody has a deficit, and you don't have to mask it because everybody around the table with you is similar in some kind of way, and so you can be who you are."

Genipha Backoulou, a Class 34 member and general manager of Ace Electric, said the Life Center offers something more valuable than basic care: independence and dignity.

"There is a difference between somebody having to take care of you ... and you having to get assistance to go to the bathroom on your own, knowing that 'I'm still independent,'" Backoulou said. "You have that dignity of independence. You have that dignity of quality of life. You have that dignity of self-pride."

The center also provides critical support for caregivers through respite care, resources, guidance and a monthly support group.

"This place offers the peace of mind of knowing that I can still take care of my loved one without the shackle of imposition," Backoulou said. "I pick you up when I'm done with work, I can still go tend to my needs without feeling like I'm abandoning something or that I'm betraying my duties."

Cordia, who helped care for her grandfather during his final two years, said maintaining routine and purpose proved essential.

"My granddad used to say, 'it's like the moment I get old, I'm going to get old,'" she said. "So it's like, how can you like prolong that moment of really getting old? And I think giving them that purpose and community helps prolong that."

Addressing future demographic shifts

According to Outhier, the need for services like the Life Center will only intensify. By 2034, the United States will have more adults than children for the first time in its history.

"Places like adult day centers are going to have to supplement because there's not going to be enough places for the elderly to go get care," Outhier said.

She noted that adult day services offer a more affordable alternative to residential care while helping participants remain in their homes longer.

"I've worked in the nonprofit and in the [for] profit world in senior care and adult day [care] is more affordable than the others," Outhier said.

Cordia emphasized the universal nature of the cause.

"At the end of the day, everyone gets old," Cordia said. "It's something that literally will impact whether it's your parents, grandparents, or you. It's the inevitable. So like having a place, like if you want to look at it selfishly, having a place that you want to go to when you hit that age."

Outhier made a direct appeal during her presentation to Class 34:

"Don't forget about this group that gets forgotten all the time. Like we're not curing cancer. We're not saving children. We're not serving domestic violence clients, but we are serving a population that gets forgotten."

The organization accepts private pay and has contracts with Advantage and DDS waivers through Oklahoma Health Care Authority, the state-funded Adult Day Program, the Veterans Administration and some long-term care insurance companies. The Life Center also partners with United Way, Elite Repeat, Oklahoma Disciples Foundation and the Anderson Foundation for grant funding and scholarship programs.

For more information about the Stillwater Harvest Festival or to donate, visit the Class 34 fundraising page. Updates will be posted on Leadership Stillwater social media channels.