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Moms, sons gather at park for 'Date Knight'
BOARDMAN
Dressed like a knight, with a bow-and-arrow on his back, Aiden Powell got down on one knee to kiss the hand of his fair maiden — his mother, Diana.
Aiden, 3, of Poland, was among 48 boys wearing knight or superhero costumes or in dress clothes Saturday, participating in Boardman Park’s third annual “Mom and Son Date Knight” at the Lariccia Family Community Center.
The event allows mothers and their sons to spend an evening together eating, dancing, making crafts, playing games, posing for pictures with Spider-Man and Iron Man, and having a good time, said Karen McCallum, the park’s recreation director, who was dressed as Superwoman.
“I had a number of moms request mother-and-son activities,” she said. “I already had father-daughter dances, and mom-and-me tea parties for girls. They wanted mom-son events. This has been accepted so much that we had to go to a second night because it’s so popular.”
Like Saturday, Friday’s event was a sell-out with 48 boys, McCallum said.
Diana Powell of Poland, who was dressed at Saturday’s event as a maiden, said, “I think this is awesome. It’s nice when the community can come together, especially for moms and sons.”
Besides kissing his mother’s hand, Aiden was busy looking for a dragon to slay and also shooting foam arrows with a toy bow.
“I’m Mommy’s knight in shining armor,” he said.
Many of the boys were dressed as Captain America, Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Iron Man and other superheroes.
For Amanda Day of Canfield and her 4-year-old son Zion, who came as Spider-Man, this was their second year at the park’s Date Knight event.
“It was so much fun last year, we had to come back,” she said. “He likes meeting the superheroes.”
Plenty of mothers also dressed as queens, princesses, maidens and superheroes.
Angela Procopio of Canfield, dressed as Wonder Woman, brought her 4-year-old grandson Ethan, dressed as Captain America, to the event.
“He loves superheroes,” she said. “The program is wonderful, and he loves it. He’s having such a good time.”
Katie Solvesky of Boardman brought her 5-year-old son Christopher, dressed as Captain America.
“He’s having a blast,” she said. “Any chance he can dress up like a superhero, it’s great. We do all the programs. There’s so many good programs between the township park, Mill Creek and library. He’s loving this.”