YSS Helps Bid Farewell to Summer With ‘Celebrate Youth’ Festival
Emma Delk Trending
WHEELING -- Wheeling Park was packed with families enjoying one last day of summer fun for free during Youth Services System's 17th Annual Celebrate Youth Festival.
Only two hours into Thursday's event, YSS Media & Communications Coordinator Elizabeth "Lizzy" Griffith estimated that "a couple thousand people" had already visited the park.
Griffith said parents and children began lining up for the event as early as 8 a.m. She added that by the time the festival began at 10 a.m., the line to enter began at the ice rink and snaked around the back of the pool.
The festival's main draw was free admission to Wheeling Park activities, including the pool, mini-golf and paddle boats. In addition to Wheeling Park activities, the J.B. Chambers Memorial Rink had activities and exhibitors available for attendees.
While children played in the bouncy castles at the rink or got their faces painted, parents could visit more than 60 exhibitors set up at the rink.
Beginning at 11:30 a.m., attendees could also enjoy a free lunch of hotdogs, nachos, juice boxes and water. Little Caesars Pizza and Ziegenfelder twin popsicles were handed out throughout the event as well.
"Goodies, candy, coloring, anything that you can think of is here at the rink," Griffith said. "The face painting has been a huge hit for us. As soon as the mirror is lifted to any of the kids' faces, they just light up and are so happy."
YSS Director of Development and Public Relations Tammy Kruse drew attention to activities beyond the ice rink, including the Fun-Raiser Urban Mobile Playground and multiple bubble-blowing stations.
In addition to end-of-summer fun, the event also helped students prepare for the coming school year. More than 2,000 backpacks filled with school supplies were available for attendees to pick up.
To have so many activities and resources available for attendees, Kruse noted the importance of YSS employees, volunteers and other community members who helped make the event happen.
"We have one young man handing out bags right now who is working on his Eagle Scout badge," Kruse said. "His mom called me and asked whether we had an opportunity for him to earn volunteer hours, and the answer was 'Absolutely, yes.' I love that he can interact with the community while getting those volunteer hours."
Kruse also commended Wheeling Park employees for their efforts the days before the event to help set up and ensure the event ran smoothly.
"If there have been any hiccups today, attendees haven't seen them," Kruse said. "We've received such great feedback from kids and parents here today. A lot of the kids have been especially excited for the inflatables."
In addition to receiving positive feedback from children enjoying the activities, Kruse noted she was thrilled to see parents taking advantage of the various resources offered at the fair.
"I had one mom tell me that she's happy she doesn't have to buy crayons or colored pencils anymore," Kruse said. "If you think about the cost of all the school supplies kids need, this can help alleviate that."
Mother Christina Troy, who attended the event with her three children, appreciated that she could pick up a free book from the Ohio County Family Support Center for each of her children to read during the school year.
"The kids were very excited that they got to pick out which book they wanted to read," Troy said. "The festival is always fun, and the kids look forward to it every year."
Ohio County Family Support Center Director Chad Wingrove said the organization was handing out books at the festival to "encourage kids to read."
"Having the books here gets kids reading while also bringing in more people we can tell about the different services we offer," Wingrove added. "Our goal is to connect within the community and raise awareness, so here we're able to connect families with the services they may need or might not even be aware that we have."
While she had just begun browsing the exhibitors with her daughter Arianna Gramlic, mother Sabrina Gramlic noted that the resources tables provided "lots of good information for families." Sabrina Gramlic was also excited to spend time with her daughter before summer ended, with her daughter being the "most excited" to go mini-golfing that day.
Attendee Josephine Murrin's highlight was riding in one of the duck paddleboats at Good Lake, as she had never tried one before. Josephine Murrin's mother, Darlene Murrin, said they had initially planned to grab their wristbands and head straight for the lake but were drawn in by "all the tables at the ice rink."
"We just wanted to enjoy the park today, so we were surprised when we came in to get our wristband and saw all these tables," Darlene Murrin said. "We're just looking around right now before we head to the paddle boats."
Kruse noted that the event's purpose was for families to take advantage of the activities and resources available.
"It's an opportunity for families to use the pool at no cost and enjoy all the other activities at the park expense-free," Kruse said. "We want people to get a wristband, go straight to the pool, then come to the ice rink. At the rink, they can get lunch and grab some school supplies before heading back out to the paddle boats."
As families continued to pour into the ice rink Thursday afternoon, Kruse added she was already planning to improve the event for next year.
"We look forward to making this bigger and better every year," Kruse said. "Today has been phenomenal, and the community has come together really well to make this all happen. I'm still enjoying what's left of today, but I already have some changes in mind for next year to make it even better."