Julien St-Jean
Campbell’s Bay July 22, 2021
Music, games and prizes filled Campbell’s Bay Municipal Park last Thursday while the Maison des Jeunes youth co-op held their first animation on wheels event of the year.
The event featured games such as mini golf, bean bag toss, balloon darts and more, with prizes to be won at each station. It also offered snacks, such as popcorn and snow cones, and had a bouncy castle to bring it all together.
The bulk of the event’s organizing was handled by Maison des Jeunes’ youth. They selected games, ran stations and took inventory of what was needed to run the event. According to Desiree Tremblay, a Maison des Jeunes coordinator, this was done in accordance with Maison des Jeunes’ mission to help Pontiac youth become “critical, active and responsible citizens.”
Tremblay described the event as “for youth, by youth” due to their role in organizing it. “I feel proud that they can do this and that they want to do this,” she said.
If the event’s goal was to engage with the community, it would seem that the community wanted to support that goal. Canadian Tire and Blue Heron Landscaping donated materials for the event’s gardening station.
“It’s great for the community and it’s great for the kids themselves,” said Oncey Nasrallah, who attended the fun day with his family. “The kids are happy, and if the kids are happy, the adults are happy.”
Nasrallah and his family were just a few of the 40 or so attendees of the night, a turnout Tremblay and many of the youth were happy to see.
“It took a lot of work, but we’re all proud to see it,” said Heaven-Leigh Smith, who ran the duck fishing station. Smith said she enjoyed organizing the event and would happily do more in the future.
“Once you actually do it, it just clicks,” she said. “It’s been a rush, but we got it together and it’s been fun.”
The Maison des Jeunes Youth Co-op plans to have more animation on wheels events in the coming weeks. More information can be found on their Facebook page.
