On Saturday, October 28th, the Burbank Police Foundation’s second annual Family Fun Day event was held at Johnny Carson Park in Burbank. An estimated 4,000 attended the event, making it a great success!
The event officially kicked off at 9:00 am with a welcome announcement from the Master of Ceremonies, Derrick Goulet and Burbank Police Foundation President, Michael Hastings. Right afterward, the Kiwanis served up their delicious pancake breakfast until 11:00 am. Once breakfast time was over, the Kiwanis Volunteers shifted gears and grilled up some lunch-time food, including burgers, fries, hotdogs and chicken sandwiches.
The event featured a car show throughout the lower side of the park, with around 150 cars on display for attendees to admire (and photograph). Additionally, children (and occasionally adults) enjoyed two giant inflatables: a giant obstacle course and inflatable slide. Because October is the month of Halloween, the event hosted a Costume Contest for kids at the UMe booth. Participants posed for a photo, in costume, in the UMe photo booth in order to enter the contest. Prizes were awarded to the Scariest, Cutest, Most Creative and Funniest costumes at the end of the event.
Vendors also added to the festive Family Fun Day atmosphere. Goods like jewelry, clothing, car accessories, cell phone accessories, essential oils, skin care, and make-up were for sale. New York Life and Lion Heart Fitness had interactive booths with various activities throughout the day, including fingerprint scanning and quick dance lessons. Attendees could also indulge in treats from Handy Market’s snack bar.
Family Fun Day entertainment included K-9 Demonstrations by the Burbank Police Department. Burbank tactical vehicles were on display, too. Family Fun Day also had various dance groups from Burbank show up and put on a great show! Performances included the Burbank High School Cheer Squad, Garri Dance Studio, Burroughs High School Acapella Group, Burbank Pa Kua Martial Arts Group, Hula O Hoaloha, Matador Dance Studio, and a Demo by Fun & Fitness. For those who felt lucky, a raffle and silent auction went on through out the entire event. Awesome prizes like a NCIS Set visit basket and a Disney basket with two tickets to Disneyland were among the prizes available.
One of the most moving displays at the event was a Burbank police vehicle that was used to post thank you messages from attendees to officers and the department on post-it notes. By the end of the day, hundreds of post-it notes were adhered to the vehicle, almost covering the vehicle in messages of love, gratitude and support.
Family Fun Day came to an end around 2:00 pm with the announcement of various winners. The Kids Costume Contest winners were announced followed by the Silent Auction and Raffle Winners. Finally, the cars were awarded with trophies for various categories including Ladies’ Choice, Chief’s Choice, Most Likely To Get Pulled Over For Speeding and Best of Show. All in all, the second annual Family Fun Day was an absolute hit and the team looks forward to making it happen again next year.
