Four-year-old Madeline Burfoot couldn’t wait to start decorating her gingerbread man at the 2023 Winterfest.
Madeline, her six-year-old sister, Audrey, and their mom Chelsea, were at the physical literacy event in 100 Mile House for the second year in a row.
“The girls really enjoy it. They put a good event on so it’s really fun,” Chelsea said.
Winterfest, hosted by School District 27, is a free family event that promotes physical literacy for families, according to Beulah Munson, SD 27’s early learning coordinator. The event gives service providers the opportunity to connect with families outside of their regular agencies and is funded by the Ministry of Education and Childcare through Ready, Set, Learn.
All of SD27’s StrongStart programs are part of the event, along with a variety of activities, including skating, cookie decorating, snowball toss and snowman bowling. Munson said. They also had a mitten hunt, in which each child gets one mitten and has to go out into the arena and find its match. They were then able to take the mitts home with them, said Munson, as well as a free storybook.
Jennifer Jones, who runs a couple of the StrongStart programs in SD27 schools, said making connections is a huge part of the day.
“Meeting new people, making friends, getting connections together with other children, with other organizations. I think having a free activity is important,” she said.
Kjerstin Dunk, who works in the infant development program at Cedar Crest Society, added the event also gives children the chance to try new things.
“A lot of children did not come out, especially through COVID-19,” she said. “They didn’t come out into public places and a lot of these little ones are intimidated to be around a lot of other people but this way they can see a lot of kids and get used to it.”
In keeping with the theme of the morning, Frosty the snowman was on hand to skate with families and talk with the children.
“They either hate me or love me,” said Apryl Soichuk who works as an aboriginal infant development consultant out of Williams Lake when not donning the snowman suit for events like Winterfest.
“It’s good to see families out utilizing community services,” she said. “Just getting back in the habit of getting out and doing stuff and going to a social event like this - it was a great turnout today.”
The next event will be Shipwrecked at Centennial Park, a literacy and treasure hunt.
fiona.grisswell@100milefreepress.net
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
