Eight-year-old Madeline Menichini, at right, has her face painted by Diamond City Partnership volunteer Carly Lewis during Saturday’s ‘Downtown Discoveries’ event in Midtown Village.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
Downtown Kids Fest draws appreciative crowd with range of activities
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Wilkes-Barre City Community Policing Officer Kirk Merchel introduces his ‘partner’ puppet Pat Rolman to Layla, left, and Vayda Lopez, while their mother Sarah watches.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
Jestina Nah poses with Princess Elsa from the hit movie ‘Frozen’ while her mother, Kursten Nah, snaps a photo.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
At the Sordoni Art Gallery table, Joshua Garibay paints his masterpiece while his grandmother Donna chats with the representatives from the gallery.
Kevin Carroll | Times Leader
WILKES-BARRE — As downtown Wilkes-Barre continues its resurgence in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, dozens of local children turned out to Midtown Village on Saturday afternoon for “Downtown Discoveries Kids Fest,” a fun-filled event featuring music, food and a visit from a Disney princess.
The line to meet Elsa, from the hit Disney movie “Frozen,” stretched almost all the way out to South Main Street before the event even began on Saturday.
“I couldn’t believe how many people were already here waiting this morning,” said Larry Newman, the executive director of the Diamond City Partnership, who put on this event as one of the Partnership’s numerous ways to bring people back to the downtown after COVID-19 brought everything to a screeching halt.
“This event is just one piece of the whole puzzle,” Newman said. “Clearly people want to get out of their homes, and we want to see them out and about.”
There was no shortage of fun activities for everyone on Saturday, with most of the children starting their afternoon by meeting Elsa, who signed autographs and took pictures with everyone.
She also performed the hit song “Let it Go” from “Frozen” much to the delight of the children (and quite a few adults, as well).
Five-year-old Jestina Nah was thrilled to meet the princess, while her twin brother Justin had other ideas.
When asked by a reporter what he was looking forward to most, Justin simply replied “baseball,” referring presumably to Champ, the Scranton Wilkes/Barre Railriders mascot who could be seen walking around Midtown Village slapping high-fives and taking pictures.
A number of city-based organizations came out to greet the children and offer fun activities for them, including the Wilkes-Barre Family YMCA (who was a partner in this event with the Diamond City Partnership, according to Newman), the Wilkes-Barre City police and fire departments, the Osterhout Free Library, the Sordoni Art Gallery and plenty more.
Community policing officer Kirk Merchel with the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department, a fixture at community functions like Saturday’s event, brought along a special friend to help him distribute candy: sock puppet police officer Pat Rolman.
“A lot of these kids are right at the age where we want to start engaging with them and getting to know them,” Merchel said. “We want to teach them that we’re on their side.”
Twin sisters Layla and Vayda Lopez, 5, enjoyed meeting Merchel and Rolman.
“He’s funny,” Layla said of Rolman. “He tried to take my candy.”
There was also a ring toss at the Luzerne County Head Start table, some painting at the Sordoni Art Gallery station and face-painting done by Partnership volunteers.
Fresh food was provided by Franco’s, and children could cool down with a nice Italian ice from Rita’s.
Midtown Village wasn’t the only hot spot on Saturday, though: each attendee of the event was given what Newman referred to as a “Downtown Discoveries Passport,” which was also available before Saturday’s event at the Luzerne County Visitor’s Bureau, the Osterhout Free Library or the Wilkes-Barre YMCA.
On the passport are a list of downtown Wilkes-Barre businesses and shops, with everyone encouraged to visit the spots on the passport and explore the downtown.
“Even if they don’t buy anything, just to get out and see that these businesses are here and that they’re open for business is hugely important,” Newman said.
Events like Saturday’s Kids Fest, paired with ongoing downtown fixtures like Rockin’ the River, Sunsets on South Main and more, are all working toward the ultimate goal of restoring downtown Wilkes-Barre as a fun destination with plenty to see and do.
“Obviously, the last year was a calamity, both a public health calamity and an economic one for the downtown,” Newman said.
“Our goal is to reanimate downtown Wilkes-Barre, and it’s so good to see how many people have responded so far.”