'Have some fun': Thousands take part in Lethbridge Family Day activities

LETHBRIDGE, ALTA. -

While many spent the day building cardboard forts at the University of Lethbridge, others were also hoping to build family memories at Play Day.

“Everything is usually so busy in daily life so it's nice to have that extra day to actually get involved with them and go out and have some fun,” said Matthew Southgate, who was at the University of Lethbridge (U of L) with his family.

“We tend to work too much and we don't spend enough time with our children as a result,” added Anastasia Pavlova.

“We're all very busy people so any opportunity we have to come together as a family we use.”

Each Family Day, the U of L welcomes nearly 4,000 people to its campus for Play Day.

“The event is designed to bring families together to play,” said Kali McKay, director of alumni and community relations at the U of L.

“It’s free and it's a great way to explore campus and get to know a little bit more about the facilities and programs that are available right here in southern Alberta.”

There were sporting activities like swimming, basketball and rock climbing, as well as arts and crafts, science demonstrations and cardboard fort making.

“We're going to go do face painting after this,” Pavlova said while helping her children make a cardboard fort.

“We just hit the bouncy castles and we have some friends who are doing the pool.”

This year's theme was dinosaurs, with faculty, students and alumni from across campus helping to put on the event.

“There are close to 100 volunteers that spent their Family Day supervising activities, leading zones and making sure everything gets set up and torn down,” McKay added.

“Team leads in each centre usually spend a couple of weeks preparing for the day – it’s a lot of preparation, but it's fun.”

While many enjoyed spending the day together, others are hoping to make play day a family tradition.

“A few years ago while I was doing the neuroscience degree they were looking for volunteers so as a student I, myself, would come and do face painting and that sort of thing and then it almost became a tradition that we come to,” said Vanessa Rogers.

Along with the U of L, the Helen Schuler Nature Centre and CASA held Family Day activities on Monday.