WORTHINGTON — Once again, the Windsurfing Regatta and Music Festival will truly be an occasion for family fun.
As has been the case for the past several years, Client Community Services Inc. will lead children’s activities along Sailboard Beach. Multiple games and craft activities will keep youths of all ages busy and playing, free of charge, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.
“It will be pretty much the same as we’ve done, and we’ll have nine different games,” CCSI Executive Director Jeri Schettler said. “There will be carnival games and face painting, and they’ll all involve prizes for whatever the kids are doing.”
CCSI has been providing games for children at the Regatta since 2013, Schettler said.
“Ken Moser, who was president of our board and also very active in the Regatta, and I were talking about the event,” Schettler recalled. “We got to brainstorming and thought maybe kids’ games would be kind of fun. We (at CCSI) thought, ‘That’s something we can do and give back to the community.’”
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Supervisors of CCSI homes come to Sailboard Beach and assist with the activities, Schettler said, and some of the organization’s clients also help man the booths and participate.
Schettler noted the Worthington High School art program has also hosted activities, too, and “we’ve kind of worked together with them.” Schettler is also benefiting from the assistance of CCSI employee Ashley Clark, who is helping with the coordination of Saturday’s games.
“We’re just thankful they’re going to do it (Regatta) this year,” Schettler said.
Also thankful to back for the summer festival is the Artmobile, which will likely be parked in the same small greenspace east of Sailboard Beach as it has been in past years.
Gail Holinka, a lead artist for the Artmobile, explained youths will be able to create make-and-take projects that often have some sort of music theme to connect with the Regatta event. This year, though, Holinka is asking people of all ages to take part.
“We’re in the process of working on the planters that will be added to the 10th Street Pavilion,” Holinka said. “We’ll be doing underglaze painting on tile … and that’s kind of more for the adults or older kids.”
The public art project is being made possible in part by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the SW Minnesota Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. An extension of a grant that funded the work has allowed the efforts toward the pavilion art to continue.
The Artmobile is set to be at the Regatta from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Also helping with efforts there will be Worthington High School art club students, as well as volunteers who keep coming back to help even though their high school days are over.
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“Art doesn’t have to be just high school classes,” Holinka said. “I want students to know that in their future, there are many things they can do with connecting to arts and building relationships in their communities through the arts.”
The Artmobile is also expected to be part of next month’s International Festival in Worthington, and will also visit different churches, Worthington’s Farmers Market and Ecumen Meadows over the course of the summer.
“We’re so excited this year is opening back up to be more of what we used to,” Holinka said.
