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Tucson City Councilman Rodney Glassman said his project is like a big brown bag filled with groceries sitting on the kitchen counter.

"Everything's in there," the Ward 2 councilman said. "We just have to take it all out and get it organized."

It's early days for this project — but we think it has potential.

What it's all about is coordinating with major and minor groups to make sure that there's something special scheduled Downtown every Saturday afternoon that will be fun and appropriate for families with small children.

Glassman said the idea came to him when a constituent visiting his office asked why there wasn't more to do Downtown with small children.

"There's a ton of great stuff going on, but young families need information.

"There are about 12 calendars of what's going on Downtown, but there's never been a real coordination on showing what's up for families and children," he said.

Last week, Glassman gathered Mayor Bob Walkup, Councilwoman Regina Romero of Ward 1 and about 60 representatives of organizations. The lunchtime agenda: Discussing how to organize and promote every-Saturday events Downtown for families with small kids.

There was a good amount of enthusiasm, evidently.

Glassman said that one museum director immediately said her facility would step in with regular monthly events.

This kind of quick engagement is a great sign.

Glassman said the group's goal is for one major venue to be available and geared up with family friendly activities between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. every Saturday.

"We already have the Children's Museum, the library, the Tucson Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art Downtown," he said.

"Once we get those Saturday commitments scheduled, the next step will be to get a restaurant to be a partner in the event. And the next level would be smaller venues. Of course there will still be the Family Arts Festival and other major Downtown events."

Romero said a basic issue the group identified is the need for a master calendar.

"Some organizations are already working to link their online calendars to other groups' calendars or event listings," she said.

Glenn Lyons, CEO of the Downtown Tucson Partnership, said his group will work with the Tucson-Pima Arts Council, the Metropolitan Tucson Convention and Visitors Bureau and other organizations that offer weekend programming "to try to build an information net/work for parents with younger children."

Councilwoman Nina Trasoff, who chairs the council's Rio Nuevo/ Downtown, arts, culture and history subcommittee, likes the plan.

"I think we have to do it in a way that we're sure that they're really good events that people will want to come to, and I'm confident we can do that," she said.

"It'll help in that as people visit Downtown, they'll grow more confortable with including Downtown in their daily lives," Trasoff said.

Glassman said the group's goal is to have a clear plan by November and to launch family friendly Saturday by the first of the new year.