Millbrook South Cavan Public School students Haiden and Josh of Mrs. Sturgeon’s grade 4 class enjoy a moment at the 15th annual Peterborough Children’s Water Festival on May 26th at the Riverview Park and Zoo.
The Peterborough Children’s Water Festival returned for its 15th year at the Riverview Park and Zoo on May 25th and 26th. Almost 1,400 students in grades 2 to 5 from 18 schools across Peterborough City and County and beyond attended the 2-day event, which featured 35 interactive learning centers. Four buses took 8 classes from Millbrook/South Cavan School and _ classes from North Cavan also attended the event.
Chair of the PCWH Organizing Committee Patricia Skopelianos said “We are excited to introduce two new features to the PCWF in our anniversary year: the PTBO H20 Mobile Drinking Water Station and the WOW (Wonders of Water) education program. Both features will enable the PCWF to advance youth awareness and healthy attitudes about our most precious resource, WATER.”
Interactive learning centers such as “Healthy Shorelines, Healthy Rivers”, “Doing the Laundry”, ‘Inspector H2O’, and ‘Tapping the Source’ have become Festival favorites with the students, providing children exciting and fun opportunities to explore the concepts of water conservation, water attitudes, technology, protection and science. The interactive learning centers are located throughout the lower grounds of the Riverview Park and Zoo.
The Ontario Trillium Foundation provided key financial support for the PTBO H20 Mobile Drinking Water Station and the WOW Program through the Capital Grant and Seed Grant streams, respectively. The leading grantmaking foundation in Canada, the Ontario Trillium Foundation strengthens the capacity of the voluntary sector through investments in community-based initiatives.
Skopelianos points out that since its launch in 2002, the annual Festival has reached more than 20,000 children from across the Peterborough area, and is one of 26 festivals taking place across the province this year. She expressed appreciation from the community members who support the initiative, saying “We are very fortunate to have tremendous community support for the Peterborough Children’s Water Festival and each year we take some time during the Festival to thank the many businesses and organizations who help make this Festival a reality”.
