Club, museum team up for KidsDay event

Jasmine Miller, 7, had a lot of fun at the KidsDay event at Ross Gold Park on Sunday.

She enjoyed playing with bubbles, cooling off in the dunk tank, and eating red, white and blue snow cones. She turned and pointed at the inflatable bounce castle.

"That's my favorite," she said. She likes it "Cuz so I can jump and do the splits."

A boy came by handing out hot dog buns to feed to the ducks.

"Grab two of those, Jazzy," said her dad, Tim Foy.

They joined about 300 other people at the free event.

National KidsDay was started four years ago by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America as an official day to recognize children. The local event was sponsored the Boys & Girls Club of Western Nevada, which provided the bounce castle, tug of war rope, snow cones and face painting.

"I think the most popular thing is the dunk tank," said event coordinator Maria Wilson. "Any water games are always popular with kids."

She switched to Spanish to explain the event to some parents.

Other sponsors included Albertsons, which donated cakes, pies and cookies for a cake walk; the Salvation army, which gave bottled water; and the Sausage Factory, which donated 500 hot dogs.

Staff from the Children's Museum of Northern Nevada helped kids make bubbles.

"We're just doing bubbles - big, wonderful bubbles," said Penny Holbrook. A kiddy pool was full of water, dish soap and glycerin. Children dipped in hula hoops, badminton rackets and bubble wands to create wobbly, rainbow-see-through bubbles.

The Boys & Girls Club's major annual fund-raiser is a barbecue on Sept. 11. Country western singer Collin Raye will perform, Wilson said.

The club plans to break ground in September on a building near St. Teresa's Catholic church. Construction should take about a year, Wilson said.

Contact Karl Horeis at khoreis@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.