New Farm Show Offers Free Day Care

New Farm Show Offers Free Day Care FARM HOME Miscellaneous 18-6-35 A new Canadian farm show may be the first ever to offer free day care to children of showgoers. Day care counselors, show organizers and parents at the first annual "Outdoor Farm Show" near Burford, Ontario, last September agreed that the service. was a whopping success. "We watched just under 200 kids, ages 2 to 5-years, during the show's three-day run," said Kerri Lewin. She's the director of children's' programs at Talisman, a Kimberley, Ontario, convention and ski re-sort that ran the show's day care service. "Parents loved it and used it as sort of a `family central,ù Lewin says. "A lot of exhibitors brought their kids in the second and third days." "We had talked about this a long time, going to shows and having a day care service. The people from the new Outdoor Farm Show came and talked to us about doing it, so we were thrilled," explained Kim Gillen, one of five trained childhood counselors at the farm show's day care center. It was a 30 by 30-ft. tent called Kids Club and designed for a maximum of 30 children at a time. Activities at the Kids Club featured an ag theme. "Our arts and crafts were farm-related and the toys were all farm-related," Gillen noted. "The farm show staff was pleased with the reception," Lewin said. "I hope we can do it at the Outdoor Farm Show again next year, as well as at others." Contact, FARM SHOW Followup, Kerri Lewin, Box 23, Flesherton, Ontario, NOC lEO Canada (ph 519 924-2023).

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