By Daily Press staff
The “Dino Fair,” a free family festival benefiting low-income families who need scholarships to attend the non-profit Growing Place child center in Santa Monica, is scheduled for Saturday, May 3.
Pony rides, dinosaur games, a petting zoo, “volcano arts,” face-painting and a moon bounce are among the features of the annual festival which will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The Growing Place, located at 401 Ashland Avenue, is a non-profit child-development center with a mission of providing quality child care for working families.
The festival’s activities are aimed especially at children aged 3 to 7 years old. Fees collected from the various booths and games are earmarked for scholarships for low-income families and for educational materials.
The Growing Place provides partial scholarships to approximately 20 percent of its families, who can enroll their children for pre-school on weekdays between 7:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. year-round. Parents volunteer to run all the booths at the "Dino Fair," which is one of Santa Monica's most popular family events.
The mission of The Growing Place is to offer an emotionally secure, educationally challenging environment for pre-school children aged 2 1/2 to 5 years old. The school is committed to maintaining a racially, culturally, ethnically and economically diverse curriculum and enrollment. Other goals at the school are to maintain an exceptionally qualified and stable staff, provide parent education, and enrich the surrounding community. The Dino Fair is the school’s main community fund-raiser of the year.
For more information, please phone (310)399-7769 or visit www.growingplace.com.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on March 1, 2003. Read the original PDF.