The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
KIDS DAY COMING BACK
Community support leads festival president Rossi to unretire the event
CANASTOTA >> Canastota Kids Day will in fact be returning this year.
In August, Richard Rossi, festival president, told the Oneida Dispatch: “We’re retiring the festival after 13 years of success... My family and I want to move on and do something else now. This is our last year, and we wanted to thank all of the great people who have helped out since day one, all of our sponsors and volunteers.”
After the August announcement, members of the commu- nity came out in flocks to ask him to keep the event going. That the community support for the event was heartwarming, Rossi said.
“We figured we might as well keep it going,” he said.
The event is hosted by Canastota Kids Day Corporation, which will sponsor a “Breakfast with Santa” on Sunday, Dec. 8 from 8 a.m. to noon at the Wampsville Firemen’s Park Building on Court Street in Wampsville.
The al l - you- can- eat breakfast buffet will include scrambled eggs, pancakes and French toast. Adults can eat for $8, children from 5-11 years of age for $4 and kids under 4 can eat for $2. Tickets are available at the door or by calling Rossi at 315264-9154.
Santa will be there to meet with children, and cameras are welcome. There will also be door prizes and free giveaways for children.
The proceeds of the breakfast will help sponsor the next Kids Day Festival to be held on Aug. 9, 2014.
For many years, Kids Day has been dedicated to Richard’s brother Bryan Rossi, who died in a tractor trailer accident in 2007. The 2014 event will also be dedicated to Rossi’s father, Richard C. Rossi, who passed away recently after a battle with cancer.
The younger Rossi said that before his father passed away, he told him to keep the festival going.