littlepalmsThe guide you see today is the beginning, not the finished thing. Here's what we're building next — in the order we're building it — so you know where this is headed.
26 of 46 listings have been visited and rated in person. The other 20 say “researched · field visit coming” on the card, and they will keep saying it until someone has stood there with the checklist. Closing that gap is the first job on this list. There is deliberately no date on it: a visit that has not happened is not a verification, and the point of this guide is that it tells you which is which.
Not one listing carries a photograph we took. 14 show a county logo instead, credited on the card as a placeholder so it cannot be mistaken for the real thing; the rest show nothing at all. Pictures taken on site are what replace them, and that is the job after the field visits.
Some decisions are bigger than a Saturday — starting with swim lessons. In a state where water safety is everything, we're researching a plain-language guide to swim programs across the tri-county: what lessons cost, when to start, what to look for, and who offers what. Written the way the rest of this site is written — by a parent, for parents, with no pay-to-play rankings. Birthday party venues and summer camps are on the list after that.
A short email that lands Thursday night: the weather outlook, three picks matched to it, and anything new we've verified. No spam, no ads, easy to leave.
Dated things for families — festivals, free museum days, library story times — gathered each week from the calendars that list them, and checked against the organiser's own page before they go up. Every one says where it came from and when we checked it, the same as the opening hours do.
31 listings already carry a Ways to save line — under-2s free, weekday parking, a free intro class. Every one of those is public: we found it, we checked it, anyone could. What we want next is the kind you cannot find on your own — a rate negotiated with a local business for the parents who read this.
The rule that governs the featured slot governs this too, and it is worth saying before a single deal exists. A discount does not buy a rating, a place in the results, or a kinder write-up. If a place with a great deal has no shade, its card will still say it has no shade — because a deal on a bad morning out is not a saving. Where a rate is ours rather than public, the card will say which it is.
Run a spot in the tri-county? If you would rather reach local parents with a genuine offer than an advert, that is the conversation we want to have: hello@golittlepalms.com.
This roadmap bends toward whatever parents actually need. If there's a feature, a spot, or a guide you wish existed, tell us: hello@golittlepalms.com — the best ideas on this site so far came from parents (and one very observant wife).