Ironwood Memorial Building hosts family fun night

IRONWOOD - The Ironwood Memorial Building auditorium was filled with the sounds of excited children Tuesday as the building played host to the eighth annual family fun night.

The event featured a variety of organizations, including the Ottawa National Forest, HOPE Animal Shelter and Aspirus Grand View Hospital, offering activities and information for area kids.

Lynne Wiercinski, assistant director with the Ironwood Carnegie Library, credited the work of the Michigan State University Extension Office and extension educator Erin Ross for gathering the groups together.

"It's really a collaborative effort of about 20 different organizations, spearheaded by MSU-Extension," Wiercinski said. "Erin is the person that really kind of coordinates everything every single year and gets us all together to do this."

The collected groups offered a number of activities including games, crafts, dancing and science projects.

Wiercinski explained the family fun night began as an effort to provide something to do in the downtime between winter and summer activities.

While the focus may have been to create something to do, Ross explained it was also about educating families.

"Initially it was about parenting awareness month, which is March, and it's kind of just grown (to what it is now)," Ross said. "The point is, is that it's not a fair for people to just bring information about their organization. (It's designed) so that families can learn simple ways to do things at home with their kids - simple activities, fun activities."

Ross said she was pleased with the turnout, saying while final numbers hadn't been calculated, the size of the crowd appeared to be in line with previous years.

"We never lack children," Wiercinski joked.

Ross said 157 kids and 89 families attended the fun night last year.