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Festival celebrates nurturing of children
By JOY DAVIS-PLATT, Times Staff Writer BROOKSVILLE -- If nothing else, Jeremy Slater got to keep the hat. "I didn't win at the games, and I lost my macaroni necklace on the ground," said the 8-year-old Spring Hill boy wearing a hat made from a large, painted coffee filter. "But I still have this hat." Jeremy and hundreds of other Hernando County children turned out Saturday at Brooksville's Jerome Brown Center for an annual festival to celebrate Hernando County's annual observance of the Week of the Young Child. Organizer Lenore Zulauf said the national celebration highlights the importance of families, early childhood professionals and communities working together to support every child's healthy development and early learning. "This has been just wonderful. The sun is out and everything is great," said Zulauf, who is a member of the event planning committee and works with Childhood Development Services, a Hernando social services agency. Renee Fischer brought her 2-year-old daughter Brenna and her 3-year-old niece Olivia from Spring Hill for the festival. Early in the day, the girls had matching red hearts painted on their hands. "I used to work at the library, and I really liked the way they offered famly-oriented activities," she said. "This is a great way for me to spend a morning with the girls." Organizers estimated there were more than 1,000 people at the one-day event. Zulauf attributes that to a move last year to the Jerome Brown Center from the Moton Early Intervention Center, also in Brooksville. "I think this event really came into its own with that move," she said. "This location has more of a central draw, and we've noticed a definite increase." With increased crowds, Zulauf said, she hopes for more support from the community since the event is sponsored entirely by donations. "As we get bigger, we see people become willing to help us along," she said. "That really feeds on itself." Nearly 40 agencies contributed to this year's affair, many setting up arts and crafts booths or outdoor games to interest both children and their parents. The Week of the Young Child is sponsored by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Its goal is to promote family interaction and community involvement. The Hernando festival is designed to bring broader support for early childhood programs that nurture children's early learning and growth, Zulauf said. At a table set up beneath one of the center's indoor basketball hoops, Brooksville Elementary second-grader Liana Reyna squirted paint from a spray bottle onto a hat made from a coffee filter. "We like to come here and play," said her mother, Carol Haley. "This is a wonderful opportunity for the kids and the parents." Outside, near the bean bag toss games and tug-of-war pit, Tammy Brinker spent some quality time with children from all over the county. "Our goal is to bring the kids in the community together," said Brinker, quality assurance director for Hernando County YMCA. "Events like this help us pull kids from all areas." Brinker said about 30 volunteers from the agency came out to help, overseeing tables for art projects and booths for games. While face-painting and making hats proved popular with younger children, it takes a bit more effort for middle school-aged kids, Brinker said. "Sometimes you have to get out there and challenge them," she said. "If you can interest them in tug of war or some of the games, they'll take you up on it."
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