Water professionals are expected to be public speakers, educators and marketing pros on top of their other duties, and with a limited budget to boot! Reaching everyone in a service district or county can be overwhelming. Lexington’s Department of Environmental Quality and Public Works provides services for a city of over 300,000 people. Reaching residents about stormwater runoff prevention involves staff and contractors who coordinate volunteer opportunities, public events, K-12 education, community programs, mass marketing, social media and much more. Public events and volunteer opportunities are valuable ways to reach people in the community because they provide memorable, hands-on information and a chance for one-on-one interactions. However, event planning can be time consuming, difficult and expensive for large and small utilities alike. Both Nature Hop and Water Week were developed through a connected event model that coordinates activities around a central theme during a set time, such as a week or a day. Nature Hop was built around encouraging immersion in nature, and involved topics such as water quality, recycling, waste reduction, tree planting and bike/ped infrastructure. Water Week focused on stormwater, with some activities incorporating drinking water or sanitary sewer education. Nature Hop developed from a citizen’s idea about having a day of events encouraging people to immerse themselves in nature. While it began as a committee-led initiative involving volunteers, the logistics and planning ended up as the responsibility of city staff. In an effort to keep everything organized, a detailed, top-down structure was put into place. While the activities were successful and well-attended, Nature Hop became extremely time-consuming during what is already a busy part of the year. After several years, Nature Hop was ended, and volunteers were encouraged to instead participate in Water Week and Tree Week, a statewide week of events focused on trees. When Water Week was developed, lessons learned from Nature Hop were put into effect. However, the first year of Water Week was scheduled for March of 2020, leading to a significant change of plans. Some of the self-guided and online activities that were developed for Virtual Water Week were popular enough that they are still part of Water Week six years later. As Water Week grew, so did the planning committee. For the past couple years, the Water Week committee has been comprised of representatives from the University of Kentucky, Fayette County Public Schools and local watershed groups. Meetings are held virtually in the months leading up to Water Week. A google doc agenda is updated with details and assigned responsibilities during the meeting, which rarely lasts more than an hour. Water Week now boasts over two dozen events and activities each year that are organized by the community. Utilizing a well-connected planning committee and leaving event details up to the individual organizers has led to a diverse and exciting variety of activities that draw in new people each year without overburdening the city staff involved.