Kiwanis Club, community
come together for Kids Day
PRESQUE ISLE — Members of the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club, with help from local volunteers, organizations and businesses, hosted a successful Kids Day at the Presque Isle Forum on Saturday, Aug. 27, during the Crown of Maine Balloon Fest.
Contributed photos
Presque Isle Kiwanis Club members get into the fun during the recent Kids Day, held at the Presque Isle Forum Aug. 27. From left are George Watson, who watches while Deirdre McMahon and AJ Cloukey try their hand at one of the games.
Diane Green and her grandson, Eliot, enjoy the festivities during the recent Presque Isle Kiwanis Club Kids Day, held at The Forum in Presque Isle. 
This year’s event, held from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., incorporated Cary Medical and Pines Health Services providing inflatables, MMG Insurance providing a donation for prizes, the Presque Isle Rotary Club providing a donation for prizes, friends and family of Kiwanis members, local pageant queens, students from several Aroostook schools, the Loring Job Corps, Rotaract and the United Way of Aroostook with Dolly’s Imagination Library.
Kiwanis volunteers planned and set up the event, and also worked the game booths.
“This year’s event took all of our volunteers to pull together to create a fun and safe place for area youth,” said Presque Isle Kiwanis Secretary Sue Watson. “Overall, it was a very positive event and there were a lot of happy kids.”
She said 11 Kiwanis members were involved, along with friends and family as support. The day was pulled together by the Kiwanis group as well as many members from the community.
“Having 50 volunteers from the high school along with local pageant queens from the community really made this day possible,” Watson said.
The club collected and reviewed the game cards returned, which indicated 450 children attended the event with an average age of 4-5. Some of the older kids opted not to participate in the carnival games but spent time in the inflatables and enjoyed face painting and a nail salon.
In addition to the children, parents and grandparents also attended throughout the day; the club estimated at least 500 people involved in this year’s Kids Day in one form or another.
“The biggest and most unforeseen success of the Kiwanis Fun Day 2016 was the volunteer support,” Watson said. “This day was pulled together by club members, community members and the local youth, who served as volunteers. We were able to connect with two high school students who served as volunteer coordinators both before and during the event.”
Families attending gave positive feedback, and the club reported this was one of their most successful Kids Days.
