Are you crazy? This is one of the questions that I asked myself as I loaded my 2 and almost 5 year old into the van on the HOTTEST DAY EVER! We were off to our first park party, where I was sure there would be loads of people and probably a lot of chaos, too.
This park party was held in the parking lot of 5/3 Ballpark. What I found, from the moment I arrived at 11:30am, was a well-organized, highly-staffed event. Amazing, because it was all free!
There were parking lot attendants directing cars and many workers staffing the free lunch table. Anyone under 18 was given a ham & cheese sandwich, apple slices, a bag of chips, a banana, and a carton of chocolate milk...a nutritious, not messy lunch that I really appreciated! It was a little tricky to find a place to eat the lunch, since we didn't didn't want to roast on the parking lot pavement. We went and sat under some trees near the parking lot and were soon joined by a large bunch lovely of students on a field trip from the LOOP program (a great free option for school-age kids in GR.)
After lunch we headed over toward the activities. I didn't have my stroller along, but that would have been a good idea since the events were really spread out. Most of the inflatables and climbing structures had really long lines that I didn't think we'd survive the wait in, but we still had a great time going around to the smaller booths.
Highlights:
-Getting tattoos from multiple places
-Free Country Fresh Ice Cream
-Petting the Binder Park Zoo turtle
-Playing the in the bubble pools
-Watching kid performers on the stage
-Meeting Maranda herself
There were a lot of other fun looking events, but we were too hot and tired to stay much longer. We ducked out at 1:30 pm and lounged in the AC all the way home, where great naps were had by all!
Maranda has other park parties coming up this summer. You'll find them on event calendar or on her website.
Upcoming Park Parties:
- Thursday, July 2 – Ionia County Fairgrounds, Ionia
- Thursday, July 9 – Garfield Park, Grand Rapids
- Thursday, July 16 – Kollen Park, Holland
- Thursday, July 23 – Upjohn Park, Kalamazoo
- Thursday, July 30 – Allegan County Fairgrounds, Allegan
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