Centennial Park hosted annual Kidfest celebration of children this past weekend

This past weekend Sarnia was bustling with activity not the least of which was another successful, memorable Kids Funfest celebration at Centennial Park on Saturday, Jun. 9.

Since 2006, Sarnia's Kids Funfest has brought joy and education disguised as fun to the local community and this year was no different.

Kids Funfest is an annual children’s festival organized by City of Sarnia Staff and the Kids Funfest Committee. It's a free event that has a number of different attractions for families to come out and enjoy. The Festival offers fun, healthy play and learning experiences to be shared by the entire family. There are many attractions, games and displays from various organizations.

Among the many things to do and see, Jayden the Jester stood out with his astounding magic tricks for children of all ages. Jayden is a stand-up comic and a renowned children's book author especially known for his Digwood series.

"I love spending the day in the park entertaining children of all ages and Kids Funfest is a perfect opportunity to come out, perform and just make kids happy," said Jayden.

In addition to performing in the park at Kids Funfest, Jayden the Jester often performs stand-up comedy, has received a personal endorsement from the folks behind Mr. Dressup, and has recently been given approval to develop a live children's production for Sarnia's historic Imperial Theatre who has ordered 4 shows slated for next year.

Another great aspect of the festival was the Child Identification Program organized by the Masonic Grand Lodge of Canada in the Province of Ontario working with regional and national law enforcement agencies.

The MasoniCh.I.P. program uses modern, police-approved techniques to create a child identification kit for the ones you love. The kit collects photos, video, voice recordings, digital fingerprints, dental impressions, saliva swabs as well as traditional statistical information (height, weight, hair and eye colour, etc.).

"When we got to the park today, the kid identification registration tent was absolutely packed and it was a pretty hot day to wait in a lineup for who know's how long," said festival-goer Kelly Edwards who was there to enjoy the activities of the day with her family, but also wanted to take advantage of the program for her 2-year-old daughter Piper.

She added, "We decided to wait until the end of the day because we figured it would be less busy, and we were right."

Some of the other activities Saturday included the medieval village, the kids safety and sports zones, the pre-school/craft area, inflatable attractions, the train ride and some exciting science and environmental out-reach programs.

Tags: annual celebration, Centennial Park, City of, Jayden the Jesture, Kids Funfest, Sarnia