Get out and play with Downtown Midland’s Adult Recess

When was the last time you played at recess? Has it been too long? The City of Midland invites residents and visitors to get outside and play a little this summer. Their weekly event series, Adult Recess is on Wednesdays from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in The Commons Pedestrian Plaza from now until August 14. 

Katie Guyer, communications coordinator for the City of Midland, is ‘the brains behind the operation.’ The event series began in 2018, and was modeled after a similar community event in a different city Guyer used to live in. 

“I thought it was a great opportunity for us to take a similar situation and idea, and bring it to Midland,” Guyer says. “There’s so much research out there about community wellbeing and how people connect to their place through a lot of unconventional types of ideas. As a city, we’ve really tried to foster a lot of placemaking and community connection in different ways. Adult recess is really the culmination of that.”

Guyer says the mission of the event series is to encourage residents to visit downtown, connect with one another and the community where they live — through lively games and outdoor relaxation. Within The Commons Pedestrian Plaza, folks can take part in cornhole, ping pong, giant Jenga, Connect Four, Twister, sidewalk chalk, and use bubble wands. 

The annual event series took a break in 2020 due to the pandemic, making this the sixth year Adult Recess has taken place. Guyer says the community response to the event has been overwhelmingly positive for a wide variety of participants. 

“We do it downtown and get the opportunity to talk to people from all walks of life,” she says. “From moms with toddlers who are just trying to get out of the house in the summer, to people visiting from out of town, or people that come for events like the Dow Championship — it’s a great opportunity for people to connect with one another, in a really cool and no-pressure way. We’re all playing, having a good time, laughing, there’s music playing, and people are acting silly.”

Adult Recess also encourages additional foot traffic to local downtown boutiques and restaurants during the summer months. Co-sponsored by the Downtown Development Authority, the series helps to create positive memories for folks visiting the Downtown Midland area. 

Although it’s titled Adult Recess, Guyer says the outdoor activity series invites people of all ages to jump into the fun.

“It’s open to everyone,” she says. “We would never tell anybody they couldn’t play. We do get a lot of kids down there, but the goal behind it was to give adults an opportunity to connect with each other, be silly, take it back to their childhood, and meet some new friends. We’ve seen that really happen with this program.”