04 May . 2019
Fun and healthy events are a way of life at Elyson
Since becoming Elyson’s Lifestyle Director in 2017, Kelly has created many special events and weekly activities that residents have come to look forward to, and that have become a big part of life at Elyson.
“I’ve loved watching Elyson’s events grow since I first began,” says Kelly, a lifelong Katy/Cy-Fair resident who lives in Cinco Ranch (another Newland community) with her family. “I’ve especially enjoyed watching friendships blossom between residents who first met at an Elyson event or activity. Everyone is always so positive, friendly and happy to be at Elyson, which makes my job so rewarding.”
Kelly is always adding new events and activities, based on her own experiences and on feedback from residents. We recently talked with her to find out what’s coming up, and we found out that there are some exciting new offerings on the horizon.
Weekly & monthly activities
Weekly fitness classes are popular with residents of all ages at Elyson, including MyBalance Fitness classes for women on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Water Aerobics have been well attended since they were introduced in 2018, and will continue through the summer swim season.
Kelly is working on a new fitness class that will be added this fall.
Fitness classes take place at Elyson House, where residents also enjoy a state-of-the-art fitness center with a playroom that allows parents to watch their kids while they work out. Open for year ‘round swimming, Elyson’s big pool offers more opportunities to get exercise, along with miles of trails, tennis courts, and pickleball and bocce ball courts.
Story Time is a big hit with Elyson’s youngest residents. Once a month, they gather for an hour of reading from a local children’s author, along with singing, crafts and a healthy snack.
Special events
In less than two years, Kelly has created 30 events for residents and visitors to enjoy, not including ongoing activities such as Story Time and fitness classes.
“I try my best to offer a variety of events that appeal to everyone,” Kelly says. “We have family-friendly events such as movie nights, concerts on the lawn, beginning of summer parties, and back-to-school celebrations. We try to celebrate as many holidays as possible, including Easter, July 4th, Halloween, and Pictures with Santa & Mrs. Claus.”
Elyson also offers many adults-only events, including holiday gift-wrapping parties, the Plant Nite series, wreath- and sign-making parties, Happy Hours and cocktail mixology parties.
Summer camps
New for this year, Kelly is organizing a variety of popular Summer Camp programs that will be held at Elyson House from early June through early August. Designed for kids from ages 4-12, the camps are open to residents of Elyson and surrounding communities.
Each camp is one week, so kids will have ample opportunity to explore subjects such as NASA, Science in Motion and Secret Agent Lab from Mad Science. Idea Lab will offer Lego Robotics, 3D Art, and Ready, Camera, Action.
Camp Einstein will present Machines in Motion and Science in Motion, and successful Katy area children’s author Maria Ashworth will teach Writopia.
Giving back
Elyson’s first “giving back to the community” project was serving dinner for volunteers at Katy’s Ballard House, which provides housing for patients, their family members and caregivers who have traveled to the area for medical treatment.
Kelly said she plans to organize more community service events for residents to get involved in, including the Walk to End Alzheimer’s coming up in September.
Keeping in touch
Kelly has also introduced a couple of ways to keep Elyson residents informed about their community, and to keep in touch with each other.
Launched in 2018, www.MyElyson.com is a resident website that provides neighborhood information, community updates, news about upcoming events, important contacts, and HOA documents.
Kelly also creates a monthly newsletter that is mailed to all residents around the first of each month, and is also available online. Each issue offers a smorgasbord of news, such as upcoming events & activities, pictures from recent events, neighborhood information, community updates, important contacts, upcoming events and special from Elyson, and highlights of what’s happening around town.
Explore upcoming events from Elyson, and see photos from past events.