Fun and Informative Family Fair
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NEW ULM -- Saturday, the Community Family Fair at the Civic Center was one-stop shopping for families looking for resources and fun activities.
Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) has sponsored the Family Fair each year for nearly 30 years. New Ulm Park and Recreation provided space in the Civic Center for organization booths. This year 23 different organizations had a booth and most featured special activity for kids.
The idea was to give kids an activity while parents gathered information. ECFE's booth featured a sensory tub for pre-school aged children. The children play around with the different plastic shapes and their parents could learn about upcoming ECFE programs, such as the ECFE Summer Fun in the Park events starting in June.
Cub Scout Pack 51 featured several activities to convince new members to join. The booth featured a knot-tying station and a rain gutter regatta course. Miniature sailboats were placed in a gutter for kids to race.
Multiple area schools attended the fair to introduce their facilities to young families. The Immanuel Lutheran School of Courtland always had a long line thanks to the balloon art of Carrie Goettlicher.
The Lion's Club of New Ulm was holding free eye screenings. Lions' club members used the Welsch Allyn Spot Vision screening system. The handheld device could screen for myopia, hyperopia, astigmatism, anisometropia, strabismus, anisocoria and amblyopia.
Many of the groups attending the fair were there to raise awareness about the organization. One New Ulm is a non-profit with the mission to foster a welcoming, equitable, inclusive and diverse New Ulm. Anyone interested in joining may reach out to onenewulm@gmail.com.
Help Me Grow, an early childhood intervention organization, gave information about the services and supports they offer.
"We want families to know we are available," Kristen Drill of Help Me Grow said.
The organization offers free support for families that have been referred. Eligible children receive free service regardless of income. Drill said they primarily help with developmental interventions, helping children to listen and speak, but also on behavioral issues.
Drill provided parents with information on how to help a child transition from one task to the next. Transitioning between tasks is one of the most common behavioral issues with children. Transitioning children to bedtime is a constant challenge for parents. In recent years, getting children to transition off-screen devices has become a major hurdle.
ECFE Coordinator Betty Uehling said this year's Fun Fair was well attended. Over 200 people visited the fair within the first hour.