SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – More than 500 people attended the Week of the Young Child Family Festival, sponsored by Mascoma Bank and held at Riverside Middle School, on Saturday, April 9, 2022. The Springfield Area Parent Child Center and The Edgar May Recreation and Health Center collaborated to bring this, the 29th annual event, to the community to celebrate young children and those who work so hard to educate and care for them.
The day started at 9 a.m. with cloudy skies which turned to rain by 10 a.m., but that did not keep families from coming out in droves to take part in all of the fun activities and talk about resources available to them as a community by agencies like Springfield Medical Care Systems, HCRS, Springfield Parks & Recreation, EMHRC, New World Adventure School, As We Grow, Vermont Department of Children and Family Services, Springfield Library, Learning Garden, World of Discovery III, SEVCA Head Start, and 211.
Under SAPCC’s big tent, the staff also celebrated the center’s 30th anniversary, all sponsored by Building Bright Futures and Dragonfly Designs. Eighty activity bags were given out to children in the first hour, seven Welcome Baby Bags went to families with newborns, 400 cookies were decorated, hundreds of birthday crowns were created, and a Scholastic Book Fair with a “Buy one get one free” promotion sold out. About 40 people answered SAPCC’s community survey that asked them what resources they would most like to see offered – just about everyone shared how pleased they are with the amazing supports SAPCC provides, regarding, “You offer everything! You’re awesome!”
A total of 250 meals were donated as part of the “Vermont Everyone Eats Campaign” by Neal’s Restaurant, Jamaican Jewelz, Preston’s Pizza, and Heritage Deli, and food was available for sale by Munchiez.
Celebrities like Superman (SAPCC’s Rob Waters), the Easter Bunny (Springfield Rotary Club’s Liz Carey), the Queen of the Fairies (211’s Carmina Garciadealba), Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy, and a beautiful ballerina (volunteers from Springfield Community Players) greeted the crowd, and Troy Wunderle walked high above little heads on his famous stilts.
The Touch-A-Truck event was a great success, with representatives from Vermont Fish and Wildlife, the National Guard, SprayGuard – featuring Hooey the Dog – VTrans, and Cota & Cota. VT & NH Photo Booths, sponsored by Cota & Cota, provided folks with free memorable pictures of their day.
SAPCC and EMHRC together wish to thank everyone who was a part of this event: the volunteers, food vendors for meals both donated and for sale, Riverside Middle School for graciously allowing us to use their grounds, the Parks & Recreation Department for their help in setting up, Perfections Event/Wedding Planners for SAPCC’s big tent, Troy Wunderle, our community partners for providing valuable knowledge and fun activities, and especially our community for showing us that these events matter to them. Thank you, all.