Wearing a Zemba Brothers' yellow hard hat and carrying a goldfish, Jamie Katcham, 10, was glad the fourth annual Dr. Anderson's Customer Appreciation Day at Zane's Landing was open to the public.
Her mother, Kathy Katcham, brought her and her brother, Jayme Katcham, 8, to the park for the free activities.
"It's pretty neat getting to play games and eating hot dogs for free," Jamie said. "My mom brought us here because she said it was something to do for free. I've had a really good time."
Children laughing, playing games and enjoying the other free activities was the goal of Dr. Gregory Anderson, an orthodontist, and his staff. In the past, the event only was for their clients and was set at places such as the Lind Arena Skating Rink and Sunrise Bowl.
"This year we wanted to do something different," said Abbie Williams, Anderson's ortho manager. "With the economy and everything you just have to give back to the public. It's open to everybody this year. This was the first year to open it to the public."
When the children registered they were given tickets to the free drawing for a book bag filled with school supplies and other door prizes. They were entered into a drawing for a free orthodontic treatment too. More than 1,000 attended the event.
"We thought it'd be a good thing to give away 300 book bags. We never expected the turnout. It's nice to see the community come out," Williams said.
Demonstrating firefighting to the children, firefighter Anthony Shriver was helping Myiah Shultz, 5, use a water hose to knock the wooden fire out of a building.
Chloe Whitehouse, Austin Parker and Roxie Parker waited in line for cotton candy. Marah Simon, 9, of Frazeysburg, and Tenton McGilton, 3, played on the bounce house while Katie Brocklehurst of Dresden had her face painted by Jaycie Evec.
"This has been so much fun for the kids," Valerie Davis said, as she held a goldfish in a cup and waited for her daughter, Ashley, 7, to get her face painted. "I don't know what I'm going to do with the goldfish, but it looks like we'll have to find something to put it in. She loves these types of events. I had to drag her away from the bounce house."
The bounce house consisted of a maze with a slide at the end. The children raced through the two openings to see who would get down the slide first. Marty Holmes, 9, of Nashport raced his sister, Jo, 7. He beat his sister the first time through but let her win the second time.
"Hey, I got to let her win sometimes or she won't keep playing. It's more fun if you can race someone. Sometimes I race other kids too, but I like beating her the best," Marty said.
The group was happy the children were having fun and has plans to make it an annual event. It was co-sponsored by the Muskingum County Sheriff Office and Sidwell Materials. The staff hope other sponsors will want to get involved so they can keep it open to the public.
"It's been really nice for them to do this for the public," Kathy Katcham said. "The kids got to have fun and a free lunch. It gave them something to do and got us all out of the house. It helped with my budget a little too since I didn't have to fix lunch. I wish there were more events like this for the kids."
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