Parents looking for a way to expend some of their children’s pent-up energy after a long week at home could be found at Bradford Greenhouses Garden Gallery in Barrie on Saturday afternoon.
It was the final day of the four-day Bounce Bonanza event, a partnership between Bradford Greenhouses Garden Gallery and Moonwalk Entertainment, which organizers told BarrieToday had been a big success.
“It has been crazy busy, I think because the snow is melting and the sun was shining — maybe not today — but people were just excited to get out of the house,” said Karen Roy, owner and director of the Barrie-based company. “This is our second year here at Bradford Greenhouse, and we are looking to expand it every year. We know it’s going to be happening again next year and we are super excited.”
With approximately 20 inflatables, this year’s event is nearly twice as big as last year’s, she said, adding there are plans to continue to make it bigger and better every year.
“We have everything from slides, obstacle courses, mazes, jumping castles and multi-play units,” she said, adding visitors could also get their faces painted, enjoy a snack of cotton candy and snow cones, and purchase balloon animals.
Gillian Patterson and her daughters, Leah and Isla Winters, have been busy this March break, having planned to do something fun and local each day of the week.
“We did swimming on Monday, X-Play on Tuesday, a shopping trip on Wednesday. Then we went to the movies,” said Patterson.
With only one day left before the kids head back to school, Patterson said she thought it would be a great way to finish off the week.
“I think that boredom makes them (restless), so I may as well take them out,” she said.
Christine Brown brought her three-year-old son, Asher, out to enjoy all the event had to offer.
“He’s still in childcare, so we decided to come on the weekend. We came out for the dinosaur event just after Christmas and he loved the bouncy stuff,” she said, adding they were having a lot of fun together as a family.
While Roy didn’t have a final tally on the number of people who have attended, she is confident a few thousand guests showed up over the course of the past four days.
“This is my way of giving back to the community. We have this great space and this great partnership with Bradford Greenhouse, and they want to focus on families and community events, so what better way than for two businesses to partner up and bring everybody inside for a great time?” she said.