Event to feature Sea Lion Splash Show and Toddler Zone

FAYETTEVILLE, NC – The Partnership for Children of Cumberland County, Inc. (PFC) is hosting the children’s area at the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival presented by Embarq for the fifth year. Partnership’s KidStuff will once again be filled with free child-friendly games and activities that educate and as well as entertain. This year’s feature attractions will be the Sea Lion Splash Show and the new Toddler Zone. 

The Sea Lion Splash show brings out the natural comedic behavior of sea lions while educating the audience about the animals. Each thirty minute show appeals to all ages and includes audience participation. Audience members near the front may want to bring umbrellas. Show times are 1:00, 3:00, and 5:00 pm on both Saturday, April 26 and Sunday, April 27. The sea lions will be visible to festival-goers between shows either frolicking in their pool or swimming underwater in their indoor tank.       

Young children will find themselves in a world of light and color while they run or crawl around the inflatable tubes of a castle maze in the Toddler Zone. Partnership’s KidStuff’s Toddler Zone is a new area specifically designed for the festival’s youngest visitors. The area will be open to children ages birth to five years old.

Adjacent to the Toddler Zone, Partnership’s KidStuff is once again providing the Rock-A-Bye Baby tent. Nursing mothers can seek shade, comfort, and privacy at the tent which offers a quiet, enclosed area with rocking chairs. Diaper changing tables, complete with wipes and hand sanitizer, will be provided in another area of the tent.

Elsewhere at KidStuff, children can play and explore a variety of games and crafts.

The Partnership for Children’s Stage will be bringing back favorite acts from past years such as the Ozone River Recyclers as well as featuring new acts such as the Benjamin Martin Focus Steppers.

Mascots will roam the streets to pose for pictures. Look for The Fayetteville FireAntz’s Anthony the Ant and SlapShot, Cumberland County Public Library’s CC Leopard, PWC’s Willy Water Drop and Wally Watt Watcher, Fazolis’ Tomato, The Fayetteville Observer’s Scoop, and many more.

PFC is the nonprofit organization charged with implementing North Carolina’s Smart Start and More at Four school-readiness programs for children from birth to age five. The organization has a successful record of improving the quality of child care, parenting resources, access to health care, and other support systems for children in Cumberland County. For more information about PFC and Partnership’s KidStuff contact Maureen McKeon at 910-867-9700, ext. 2260 or mmckeon@ccpfc.org. 

Chosen as one of the Top 20 events in the Southeastern United States by The Southeast Tourism Society, this year’s festival will celebrate the coming of spring with three days of live entertainment, arts & crafts vendors, pageants, and more the weekend of April 25-27. For more information about the 2008 Fayetteville Dogwood Festival presented by Embarq, visit www.fayettevilledogwoodfestival.com.