By LESLIE EIKLEBERRY
Salina Post
BENNINGTON - Fun and festivities will be the rule of the day in Bennington Saturday.
The day will begin with the Bennington Family Fun Day and will conclude with the Bennington PRCA Rodeo.
"Fun Day is a great chance to get outside and kick your summer off right. Parents with young children will love the inflatable activities, turtle races, face painting, and the pedal tractor pull. Older kids will enjoy the FFA ag olympics, 3-on-3 basketball, and the early-morning 5k Fun Run. And people of all ages can enjoy the cornhole tournament, vendor booths, local restaurants and businesses, and the antique tractor show," Jeff Shamburg, president of the Bennington Family Center told Salina Post.
"Of course after all of that fun, we wrap up the afternoon with a parade and Bennington PRCA Rodeo!" he added.
The full schedule of events can be seen below.
Shamburg explained that the Family Fun Day began in the early 1980s as a grassroots community fun day that was always held in conjunction with the Bennington PRCA Rodeo.
"It's a chance for our community to come together downtown, enjoy old time games and entertainment and kick off the summer," he said.
Each year, a planning committee of eight to 12 community volunteers works to organize Family Fun Day.
"On the day of the event, dozens of volunteers from the community and local businesses help keep the various events moving along smoothly," Shamburg said.
This year is the first year that the Bennington Family Center has been in charge of organizing Family Fun Day.
"Bennington Family Center is a new non-profit that was started by a group of community members that wanted to meet some of our immediate childcare needs. As we organized, we quickly discovered that our community needed access to quality childcare, but once that need was met, there were many other challenges that were holding community families back from being successful," Shamburg explained.
The Bennington Family Center was established "to lead and support our community in building the best foundation for families by providing early childhood, school-age and adult education and access to social services that help strengthen the family unit," he said.
"We're working to get organized to deliver this by providing childcare, parent and guardian classes, and a home-visit program that will help new parents, but also continue to work with families to assess their needs and make connections to resources that can help their needs be met," Shamburg said.
