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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Children dug in the sand during the Fellows Riverside Garden's Family Fun Friday program on June 23.
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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Children at the Family Fun Fridays event at Fellows Riverside Garden got their faces painted.
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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Giada and Cooper made craft jewelry out of crepe paper on June 23 during the Family Fun Fridays at Fellows Riverside Garden.
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Neighbors | Alexis Bartolomucci.Some of the children checked out a beehive that was at the Fellows Riverside Garden Family Fun Friday event on June 23.
By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI
Fellows Riverside Gardens hosts a Family Fun Friday every Friday during the months of June and July.
Each Friday has a different theme related to the garden for the families to learn about. There are different crafts, visitors and tables set up for the families to visit.
The theme of the June 23 program was pollinators. Don Kovach, a local beekeeper, had a table set up with honey and a hive with bees for the guests to look at. A representative from the Girl Scouts was there helping the guests make a mosaic flower craft.
“You have crafts, you have something that you see, you touch, you taste. Usually something that appeals to all the senses” said volunteer Dorothy Tesner.
Tesner has been a volunteer for about three years and enjoys all that Mill Creek MetroParks has to offer. The Family Fun Fridays are run by volunteers who donate their time to ensure everyone has a good time.
The pop-up library from the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County comes each Friday and hosts a story time for the children. There is a face painting artist who paints children’s faces with different things that match that week’s theme of the program. Different guests attend the event each week for the families to interact with.
“It’s always teaching a theme relating to gardens and nature,” said Tesner. “We get 100 kids sometimes on a beautiful day.”
The free event runs from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. and families can come and go any time they want within that time frame. Those who are interested can visit www.millcreekmetroparks.org and check out the event calendar to see the theme of each week’s program.