04/22/14 Leadership Marshall County is pleased to announce the first annual Kid’s Expo on Saturday, April 19th was a huge success.
The intent of this expo was to bring together under one roof, organizations whose missions are to offer the younger generation of Marshall County with activities, information, and experiences ranging from sports, arts and drama, educational, historical, environmental, scientific and leisure. Whether it be in a team environment or solo activities, parents want to know what is available for their children over the summer months and after school and Kid’s Expo provided them that. Thirty vendors were present and shared their information with an estimated 200 people which included families as was well as individuals.
Vendors included: Plymouth Family Taekwondo, Marshall County Historical Museum, Plymouth Public Library, Plymouth Country Club – Jr. Golf, Plymouth Parks Dept., Plymouth Fire Dept., Marshall County 4H, LifePlex Day Care and LifePlex Dance Academy, Junior Achievement, Encore Performing Arts ~ Missoula Theatre ~ Arts Camp, Heartland Artists Gallery, Swan Lake Resort – Jr. Golf, Wagoner’s Music Shop, Boys and Girls Club, Earthworks, Culver Summer Camps, Crossroads Evangelical Free Church Summer Camp, Freedom Park, Plymouth Community School Corporation ~ Camp Invention and Summer Athletics Camps and Events, Saint Joseph Regional Medical Center, Martin’s Super Market, Jana’s Gymnastics, Small Wonders Summer Camp, Potawatomi Wildlife Park, Quick’s Lanes, Boy Scouts, Marshall County Tourism and more …
The vendors were very creative with their presentation of information, ex. St. Joseph Regional Medical Center gave talks on Bike Helmet Safety. If the children listened to the talk they were given the chance to win a brand new bike and helmet, one for a boy and one for a girl. Recycle Depot had the Bag Monster visiting groups and sharing the recycling positive message. The Plymouth Library had Riley, the friendly and attentive dog who listens to children read books to him.
The event was free to the public and there was an even flow of families from 10:00-1:00 Saturday. The kids were given a Kid’s Prize Cards and if they were able to secure signatures from each organization present they went to the Kid’s Table to select a prize. That table was quite busy most of the day.
High school students helped with the event as well; Travis Tredway, Kylee Rippy, and Janessa Salazar volunteered to be Ambassadors for the Expo. We appreciated their time and service to this community event. Thanks also to the Plymouth High School – Art Club for adding a lot of color through face – painting during the event, the kids and adults kept them very busy.
Demonstrations during the Expo were given by: LifePlex Dance Academy, Plymouth Family Taekwondo, Jana’s Gymnastics and Music & More. Plymouth Officer John Weir and his K9 dog gave a demonstration on how the specially trained dog helps track and secure suspects when needed.
Kid’s Expo, was a class project spearheaded by members of Leadership Marshall County, Class of XIX were Marla Murasko, Bev McDonald, Cindy Flagg and Shelley Heiden. Leadership Marshall County (LMC) is a program sponsored by the Marshall County Community Foundation and United Way of Marshall County, the LMC class meets once a month for nine months to understand the community-wide effort to identify and empower community leaders through education, skills development and networking opportunities. Smaller groups within each class are required to develop projects they feel will be beneficial to the county. This group felt that the Senior Expo is always a success, why not do that for the kids – the little people in Marshall County! The Kid’s Expo coordinators received overwhelming enthusiasm for the idea and hope to offer it again next year and would like to thank all who donated, participated and attended, especially the Boys & Girls Club for hosting this event.
