Children’s festival is coming to town

Posted on: jamacsadmin

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter
 
The youth in Strathmore are going to be celebrated on March 10 at the first ever Children’s Festival. 
“The idea started to kind of come last year after Strathmore was on the receiving end of some negativity with the ecstasy overdose and graffiti,” said organizer Melissa David.
“I think the youth were being painted in kind of a bad light, and since we had just done the Pet Expo we were hearing things about other places having different kinds of children’s festivals and youth days and stuff like that.”
After questioning why Strathmore doesn’t have anything like that, David decided to get a group together to bring it here. She said Encana has been fabulous and once they caught wind of what she and her group were trying to do they wanted to help out. David said local businesses have also been supportive with the initiative and also have been lending a helping hand. 
David says there will be plenty of things for all ages including face painters and balloon twisters. She admits it can be a little tougher to find things for the older youth, but that there are a few things lined up.
“Mary Kay and Arbonne are going to come and do some makeup demonstrations, and Play N Trade is going to come and do some mobile gaming stations so kids can play X-box and Wii and we’ll have a crafts table, it should be pretty good,” said David. 
“The idea is once people are in the doors, the face painting, all that is all going to be free. We will be taking donations. I just have been envisioning it to be a really fun festival-type atmosphere where kids can come in and just have a blast. Being affordable for everyone is huge too, it’s tough to do something with a family that’s affordable these days.”
David said public speaker Cory Johnson will be in attendance, as will Mayor Steve Grajczyk. Each child through the door will also get a free cookie thanks to Sobeys. Anyone interested in volunteering, or just finding out more can go to the Facebook page, Strathmore Children’s Festival Presented by Encana. David said she updates every time someone new gets involved with the festival.