What community events should an electric co-op take part in?

The ones members already go to: the county fair, the hometown parade, school events and the co-op's own member appreciation day. Showing up year after year matters more than doing everything once.

What are good co-op member engagement ideas for families?

Things kids can do and parents can watch: a coloring contest, a bucket truck to sit in, a line-worker safety demonstration. Families talk about those for weeks.

How can a co-op make a safety demonstration memorable?

Let line workers lead it, keep it short, and end with one or two rules people can repeat, like staying away from downed lines and calling the co-op instead.

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Electric co-ops

Electric Co-op Community Event Ideas: Fairs, Parades and Safety Demos

Electric cooperative community events members enjoy: parade floats, fair booths, line-worker safety demos, coloring contests, youth tours and member days.

By Explainer Music Videos · October 17, 2026 · 4 min read

Quick answers

What community events should an electric co-op take part in?: The ones members already go to: the county fair, the hometown parade, school events and the co-op's own member appreciation day. Showing up year after year matters more than doing everything once.
What are good co-op member engagement ideas for families?: Things kids can do and parents can watch: a coloring contest, a bucket truck to sit in, a line-worker safety demonstration. Families talk about those for weeks.
How can a co-op make a safety demonstration memorable?: Let line workers lead it, keep it short, and end with one or two rules people can repeat, like staying away from downed lines and calling the co-op instead.

An electric co-op is owned by the people it serves, but many members only think about it when the bill comes or the lights go out. Electric cooperative community events are the easiest way to change that: members meet the line workers, the kids sit in a bucket truck, and the co-op becomes the folks down the road instead of a name on an envelope.

Here are co-op member engagement ideas that fit a rural or small-town co-op, from parade floats to safety demos, with practical notes on each. For the yearly business meeting itself, see our separate post on annual meeting ideas members will actually come to.

Parade floats and the county fair booth

Parade floats. A bucket truck decorated with bunting and lights is a float almost anyone recognizes. Put a few line workers in hard hats on board to wave, and have staff walk alongside handing out stickers or freezer pops on a hot day. A simple banner works: the co-op's name, "Owned by the members we serve" and the year you were founded. At night parades, string lights along the boom.

County fair booth. The fair is where your members already are for a week. A few ideas that make people stop:

A bucket truck parked by the booth for photos (with someone in charge of safety and supervision).
A short video or song playing on a screen. Check the fair's rules on sound.
A spin-the-wheel quiz about electrical safety and energy saving, with small prizes.
A simple display of the co-op's service area with a pin board: "Where's your farm or home?"
Staff who can answer bill and outage questions on the spot.

Bring a sign-up sheet for your newsletter and text alerts, and a stack of outage-reporting magnets.

**We Turned the Lights On Ourselves** · A sample of The Milestone, for an example co-op’s 90th anniversary.

Line-worker safety demonstrations

Many co-ops and statewide associations use high-voltage demonstration trailers: a small working setup where trained line workers show, at safe distances, what happens when a ladder, a kite, a tree branch or a toy truck touches a live line. It's dramatic and it sticks.

If you have access to one, or to a trained crew, a few things help:

Pick the audience. Schools, 4-H and FFA groups, fire departments, farm events and the county fair all work.
Keep it to 20 to 30 minutes with time for questions.
Let the line workers talk. They're the ones people trust on this.
End with a few rules people can repeat: stay away from downed lines, look up before raising a grain auger or ladder, and call the co-op if equipment hits a line. Stay in the cab unless there's a fire.
Follow your own safety rules and your statewide association's guidance for every demo.

Farm safety days in spring, before planting, are a natural time for the equipment-and-power-lines message.

Kids' coloring contests and youth tours

Coloring and drawing contests. Print a page with a line truck, a power pole and your co-op's name, or ask kids to draw "What electricity means at my house." Mail it in your newsletter, set out copies at the fair, and judge by age group. Hang every entry at the office or annual meeting, and print the winners in the next newsletter (with a parent's okay). Small prizes are fine. Recognition is what kids remember.

Youth tours. Many co-ops send high school students on a youth tour, often to the state capital or to Washington, D.C., to learn how co-ops and government work. If yours does, make the most of it:

Ask students to share a few photos and a short write-up when they get back.
Invite them to speak for two minutes at the annual meeting.
Post their stories on Facebook and in the newsletter, with permission.

Even if you don't have a tour, a local version works: a day at the co-op learning what line workers, engineers and member services staff do.

Member appreciation days

A member appreciation day is the simplest event to run and often the most welcome. Pick a summer or fall afternoon and keep it relaxed:

A free lunch: burgers, pulled pork or a pancake breakfast.
Bucket truck rides or photos for kids (with proper supervision).
A table for bill questions, energy-saving tips and signing up for outage texts.
Door prizes like LED bulbs or smart thermostats, if your rules allow.
Line workers and office staff wearing name tags, so members can put faces to names.

Tie it to something: the anniversary of your first lines being energized, National Cooperative Month in October, or a new office opening. For bigger milestones, our post on celebrating a co-op anniversary has more ideas, and telling your co-op's founding story helps with what to say.

Where a song fits

At a fair booth, a parade or a member day, a song about your co-op gives people something to listen to and a story to share. Our sample We Turned the Lights On Ourselves, made for an example co-op's 90th anniversary, shows what that can sound like.

Our Milestone package is $3,900, paid once: a 4-minute song about how your co-op started and grew, a 2-minute story song with a widescreen video, a 30-second song with a vertical video, and three 15-second ads for the big day. You can use it at every event, on Facebook and on the radio for as long as you like, and you don't pay until you've seen the result. See our page for co-ops to learn more.