Case Study: Moving a Local Community Calendar to a Free Hosting Stack

Case Study: Moving a Local Community Calendar to a Free Hosting Stack

Hook: Community groups often run on volunteer time and limited budgets. In this case study, we document a full migration from a legacy CMS to a free static-hosted calendar with better discoverability and lower overhead.

Background

A suburban community league wanted:

• A more discoverable events calendar.
• Lower hosting and maintenance cost.
• Simple contributor flows so volunteers could add events without heavy training.

Their starting point was a dated CMS with slow pages and cumbersome approvals. We proposed a free static host, a headless CMS for event input and a lightweight admin workflow.

Implementation summary

1. Choose a headless CMS: Lightweight editors enabled volunteers to add events as simple structured content. For patterns on headless + static sites, reference the Tool Spotlight.
2. Static generation: Events rendered into a static calendar and individual event pages to maximize speed and SEO.
3. Volunteer workflows: Simple submission forms tied to a preview link so contributors could proof changes before publish.
4. Third-party calendar exports: Allowed users to subscribe via iCal or embed individual events on other local sites.

Outcomes

• Load time improved by 86%: Page speed scores rose and bounce dropped.
• Admin time reduced by 70%: Volunteers spent less time approving and removing spam; similar operational wins are seen in clinic repurposing case studies like this clinic case study.
• Higher event submissions: Lower friction resulted in more local groups publishing their own events; readers found events via local feed indexes such as Free Local Events Calendar.

Key technical decisions and why they worked

• Static single-purpose pages: Reduced runtime risk and simplified caching.
• Preview links for contributors: Rapid feedback loop avoided repeated edits.
• Accessible design: We applied modern accessibility patterns recommended by resources such as Accessibility & Inclusive Design: Next-Gen Patterns, which improved usability for older volunteers.

Lessons for other community projects

• Design contributor flows for the least technical person. A simple form plus preview is better than a full CMS admin panel.
• Use caching and pre-rendering to reduce server-side complexity and hosting cost.
• Plan for data portability: export event lists as CSV/ICS so groups can migrate later if needed. The compose case study on citizen developers shows how documenting exports scales participation (Compose.page case study).

“We went from weekly maintenance sprints to a light 30‑minute check every other week — and more neighbours started posting events.”

Recommended resources

• Case study: Community leagues using trophy systems and calendars — design patterns for engagement.
• Free Local Events Calendar — how to find and syndicate local activities.
• Accessibility & Inclusive Design — accessibility patterns we used.
• Compose.page citizen developer case study — operational lessons for low-tech contributors.

Takeaway

Free hosting stacks are a practical fit for community calendars. With a clear contributor flow and static delivery, volunteer groups can reduce cost and improve outreach while keeping their data portable and accessible.