NO BONES ABOUT IT — FAMILY DAY IS FUN
Record-breaking warm weather and bright sunshine brought hundreds of people out to celebrate Family Day in south Niagara.
Welland’s community recreation co-ordinator, Krista Bowie, was at Welland Community Wellness Complex overseeing numerous events she had organized to keep families entertained Monday.
“We wanted to have something for everybody,” she said, referring to carnival games and the giant inflatable pirate ship that filled the centre’s hall, as well as a dinosaur exhibit by Alex Nelson from Club Rex.
She said the city’s family day event has slowly grown over the past few years as activities have been added to the celebration.
But it was sill relatively low key, compared to the New Year’s Eve celebration at the Lincoln Street facility.
“People come here and they expect New Year’s, when every room in the building is just overflowing with people. But definitely we wanted to invest in having some more activities for kids on Family Day, and getting people out — and what a glorious day to be out.”
Bowie said past events weren’t as well attended, likely because stormy winter weather kept people from venturing out.
“You get a nice day and people want to come out and be active.”
Pelham Arena was busy with hundreds of visitors, too, participating in Family Day activities, such as Family and Children’s Services Niagara-sponsored free skating.
Although the weather didn’t bode well for a snowshoe race planned as part of Pelham’s event, the town’s culture and community enhancement programmer, Jodi Hendriks, was happy to see the crowds of people at the arena because of the weather.
“It’s a great day to get the family out,” she said, adding the contributions of volunteers running the event “just goes to show how people are passionate about their community and want to stay connected.”
The event featured a community expo that gave service clubs and community sports organizations an opportunity to “engage all the new families that are moving to town, too, to let them know what’s going on,” Hendriks said.
Members of groups including Fenwick Lions and Fonthill and District Kinsmen participated in the expo, described by Kin Kevin Twomey as an opportunity to “dialogue with the community and get some feedback about where they’d like to see service clubs, and specifically the Kinsmen, serve the community’s greatest needs.”
The Family Day event also featured the inaugural Golden Boot hockey game, pitting volunteer firefighters against Pelham Minor Hockey coaches.
“It’s a showdown of volunteers,” Hendriks said, noting a golden boot trophy would be handed out to the winning team.