By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
The Wood County Park District is seeing results from a first-time effort in digital media reporting and advertisements between March and May.
The park district more than doubled its goal to reach 100,000 people through digital advertising, said Jessie Walton-Summers, community and communications specialist, reported at the July Park District board meeting.
Nearly 220,000 people watched the park district’s 30-second advertisement and clicked on it, she said, which means the ad hit a household reach of about 76,000 people and a household frequency of almost 2.86.
“I thought our 100,000 goal was pretty generous,” she said. “We were way above our goal. I was very ecstatic.”
Perrysburg and Bowling Green recorded the highest number of impressions: 83,000 people in Perrysburg and 63,000 people in Bowling Green. Because Bowling Green State University has its own zip code, there were 5,000 people from the university’s zip code who saw the ad.
The geo-targeted advertisements between March and May were focused on specific locations and young families or couples who Googled about parks, recreation, nature and related topics. When the target audience searched any of those words, the park district’s general brand awareness ad would pop up.
“They would see information about the Wood County Parks, who we are, what we do, and the target was to get them to our website for general brand awareness,” she explained.
The top five publishers with the park’s digital advertising were Smart News, Weather Channel, Daily Mail, WTOL and Fox8 News.
“Not only were we targeting these young families, we were targeting college students too, which is great for engagement, getting people involved, keeping the students involved and coming back to our wood county parks,” Walton-Summers said.
Additionally, website retargeting or remarketing increased by 13%, which exceeded the 5% goal they set. With retargeting, the park district is able to capture users who have previously visited their website by showing the park ads when the user visits other websites. This approach reminds users of a product or service they were interested in and increases the likelihood they will return to the site.
“I’m very, very happy with how our digital reports are going and I’m very excited to see more of what we can do,” she said.
Fair plans
The Wood County Park District will be at the Wood County and Pemberville fairs, starting Jluy 27-Aug. 3 at the Wood County Fair and Aug. 20-23 at Pemberville.
The park district will offer games and activities at both fairs, including Flag the Map, coloring pages, and Life Through the Parks Game, Walton-Summers reported.
A Plinko-style game lets fairgoers drop a disk onto the board to win a giveaway prize. This year’s prizes include fancy mugs, campfire mugs, and natural cotton tote bags featuring the local flora and fauna native to the region. “It’s a great way to get people engaged with us, because they want to come up and play the game,” she said.
New this year is a take-home coloring book designed by Taylor Vanek, community and communications assistant. The coloring book, for kids and adults, includes a map of the parks, the park website, and a packet of colored pencils.
At the Wood County Fair, the park district’s site is across from the political buildings and near the 4-H Milkshake Barn.
Statutory budget ready for budget commission
The board approved an initial statutory budget of $4,615,802.65 for 2026. The budget first goes to the Wood County Budget Commission in August before final updates in November and a final vote by the park district’s board of supervisors in December.
The budget represents estimated revenues and allocations for 2026, as determined at this point in time, explained Executive Director Christopher Smalley.
The $4.6 million budget includes $2,119,385.93 for salaries; $420,200 for employee health insurance; $412,000 for capital improvements; $390,000 for contract services; $323,212.84 for P.E.R.S.; $222,070 for equipment; $134,000.00 for supplies; $124,200 for other expenses; $100,000 for local grants; $100,000 for land acquisition; $69,500 for contract repairs; $52,150 for advertising and printing; $38,800 for materials; $30,731.10 for Medicare; $29,200 for travel and expenses; $24,902.78 for workers compensation; $24,450 for rentals; and $4,000 for unemployment compensation ($0 for note repayment).
