The Maidstone School Community Council kicked off the school year with an event designed to bring the schools and the community together. The second annual Welcome Back Backyard Party was a stunning success as the entire town turned out to take part in the festivities and the events.
Built around a free community barbeque, community businesses were asked to stage fun events for everyone.
"It was wonderful," said SCC member Trish McLaren. "The businesses are, (and were), all very busy you know, but they still committed to both the day and the time, and they let the kids play from the start to well past the finish."
"There were so many activities," Michele Lundquist commented. "The Post Office brought sacks for sack races, there was face painting and Fear Factor, the Dino Dig and the Duck ponds. The Fire Department brought the hoses and let the kids aim them at targets," which inadvertently also came to include the firemen who went out to reset the targets into position. "We even had one business that let the kids sit up in a backhoe with the operator and get the experience of seeing how it works."
"The entertainment this year was aimed at everyone," said McLaren, "from two year olds through to seniors, and the kids - well, the kids were just totally pumped, asking from the first day back at school when the party was going to happen."
"Two companies combined to bring in an inflatable jumping castle, an obstacle course and a bungee run," said SCC chairperson Becky Schmitt. "The bungee run was so much fun that even the adults were almost fighting over taking part."
"The first year we ran this a lot of the businesses wanted to write us a cheque, but that wasn't what we were after," said Schmitt. "We wanted them to become involved and take part and help build connections between the schools, the people in the town, and the business community. People sometimes think that if they don't have someone in their family in the school then they shouldn't take part. We wanted to create an event that involved everyone to bridge that gap, and we did it!"
The Maidstone SCC would like to thank the businesses and organizations for their contributions: for the duck pond and bubble blowing, the Fear Factor, the Rider Pride tattoos and stickers event, the Apollo Jump bouncing castle, obstacle course and bungee run, the face painting, the dino dig and dino ice-cream, the backhoe rodeo, the street hockey tournaments, the tail gate book parties and book giveaway, the sack races, the target practice with the hoses and metal cutting, the bean bag toss, the horse shoe golf and shoe wash, the popcorn giveaway, the movie and the invaluable aid and assistance in everything. Lastly a big thanks goes out to the people of Maidstone and area for their wonderful support.
