Today was the day the teddy bears had their picnic and there were plenty of smiles to go around.
About 3,000 people descended on Vickers Park on Tuesday afternoon, eager to join the parade, munch on tasty kettle corn, have their face painted or listen to the Grumpy Grampas and Rodney Brown sing children’s songs.
Nine-year-old Triston Prince loved to play.
“I liked the bouncy house because you could bounce and have fun,” she said.
“I also liked having the teddy bear fix-up, to fix your teddy bear. I’m having it fixed right now. It’s a bunny and its ear is falling off, so I’m having its ear get stitched.”
Triston’s friend Kiersta Goodman also liked the Boo Boo Bear station, but her favourite activity was a little more artistic.
“I liked the face-painting, because you could have different pictures, like ladybugs or teddy bears and stuff,” she said.
Faith Trelinski, also nine, chose the music.
“I like to listen to it because it’s nice,” she said.
Zadie Lamoreux said she was having a great time.
“You can play whatever you want. It’s also fun because you have a bigger area to play,” the five-year old Ottawa native said.
Her father Tab brought his family to the city to visit family, and said he couldn’t believe how many people were at the park.
“I drove past right at the beginning and I got back to (my family’s) place and I said it’s massive, we’ve got to go,” he said. “It’s just full of people. This sort of thing for kids, I just love it.”
Organizer Melissa Walczak, the city’s assistant event co-ordinator, called it one of the best days of the summer.
“It’s a pretty fun day,” she said. “It’s our 30th annual Teddy Bear’s Picnic. We have probably 3,000 or more people down here today. We have 40 different community groups. We have some volunteers doing face painting. We have crafts, we have balloon animals. We have lots of games that are here and the entertainment.”
Walczak said the smoke-free event offers a little something for everyone, family fun for all.
“I think it’s everything. There are lots of fun activities to do,” she said.
