Activities planned for Family Day in Rainy River

By Ken Johnston
Editor

The Rainy River Recreation Centre will be hosting its 5th Annual Family Fun Day next Monday in conjunction with the provincial Family Day holiday!
Rec. Director Meghan Shanks said they expect to get between 50-75 people out for the day of family activities.
In previous years the day kicked off with a Shiver on the River 5K run. However, that has been shelved for this year and may be brought back at a later date if people are interested.
Registration forms for Family Fun Day are available at the Rainy River Public Library, Riverview Elementry School and the Rainy River Best Start Hub. Families are asked to rate five different activities in order of preference. Pre-registration is open until the end of the day on Wednesday, Feb. 15th at the aforementioned locations.
The five activities include three familiar ones, Curling, Family Crafts and Snow Soccer. Soccer has been absent for a couple of years, but Shanks said, “We like to rotate between it and broomball.”
Two new activities have been added to the list. They are “Noodle and Chicken” games and Food Fun. Noodle and Chicken incorporate swimming pool noodles and rubber chickens as props into fun games for families.
Food Fun will see families learn to make healthy but fun snacks that they get to eat when completed!
While pre-registration closes tomorrow evening, Shanks said drop-in participants are welcome on Monday as well. “We just can’t guarantee they will get the activities they are interested in as they may be full.”
She also noted that kids who’s parents can not bring them are welcome to come with their friend’s family.
The event gets underway at 12:30 p.m. at the Rec. Centre and the Curling Club. Families will do the first activity of the day until 1:15 p.m. and then switch to their second activity from 1:15-2 p.m.
At 2 p.m. all families will gather and teams will be selected to participate in a fun family relay that involves doing things like skating, egg and spoon races, etc. Prizes will be awarded.
At 3:30 p.m. there will be free public skating in the Rainy River Arena.
Cost for the event is $2, which barely puts a dent in the material costs for the day. Shanks said thanks to the Northern Lights Credit Union, Northwestern Health Unit, Rainy River Best Start Hub, Rainy River Public Library, Riverview School and the RR Rec. Board the cost for the day is kept minimal but yet the day is full of fun activities.
Shanks said that volunteers are needed to help run the various activities and for info. on this people can call her at 852-4446.