A sea of arms and legs – that is the vivid memory seared into my brain after my first visit to the annual Canada Day Children’s Festival.
My own children were too old for the event when we moved to Salmon Arm in 1992, so I had no idea what to expect.
Having been told the Children’s Festival Society was desperately short of volunteers, I agreed to make an initial commitment to a two-hour shift.
I was assigned to the pirate ship bouncy house that had one “ladder” in the middle, with a slide on either side.
What a popular place!
For the next two hours, I did not have time to look beyond legs, arms, faces – some delightfully painted, and feet to make sure they were without shoes.
An occasional arm would shoot up the ladder to grab a child who was making a run for it rather than returning to the end of a very long lineup – a lineup that sometimes stalled while I made sure there were no collisions on my watch.
There was only one heart-stopping moment. It came when a tall, young lad bounced so high at the top of the slide, he was within an inch of going over the side.
I was impressed with the patience and great behaviour of both parents and children. My only real challenge was in telling the little people which slide to take when they couldn’t differentiate between right and left.
Time passed quickly and after my shift, I strolled around the site enjoying the atmosphere and the many activities. A number of games challenged young players and earned them rewards. Industrious children were hammering happily away on odd pieces of wood, creating items from their imagination.
Kenthen Thomas enthralled his audience with an aboriginal tale about how night and day came to be and DJ Patrick Ryley kept the energy up in between times. The dunk tank was a popular place, with Mayor Nancy Cooper landing in the water close to 20 times.
The arena was a great refuge from the heat and offered more activities, fine dancing by students from local studios and a silent auction that raised $4,000 for next year’s festival. Prior to this year’s event, organizers Kari Wilkinson and Karen Bubola had to put out an urgent plea for volunteers.
This is an awesome festival that attracts between 4,500 to 5,000 people. It’s free, accessible and a lot of work to organize.
Co-ordinators are grateful to volunteers who stepped up this year and Bubola says ideas are already bubbling for next year and, in particular, 2017, when Canada celebrates 150 years of nationhood.
Bubola and Wilkinson work incredibly hard and they deserve to know they will have ample support.
It’s a fun place to be and so worth seeing families having fun together. So, I am putting my money where my mouth is and committing to being back next year. Will you join me?
