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LCCC’s Family goes Fest
By Antonio Barrios

September 24, 2005 set the new standard for college open houses. The 12^th edition of FamilyFest arrived under ominous clouds and scattered thunderstorm, but the FamilyFest committee would be thankful that it would turn out to be a tremendous day—there were thousands of festival goers on campus from beginning to end.
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LCCC Family Fest photo by Antonio Barrios

FamilyFest was normally held in late spring, but the FamilyFest Coordinator, along with a unanimous committee, submitted the fall change to the operations council and managed to find a date the wouldn’t conflict with other local festivities.

Most of the events that worked were kept; the committee wasn’t looking to reinvent the wheel, just increase the visitors to the open house that pulled out all the stops and flung open LCCC’s doors to its neighbors. With many new programs and a fast growing University Partnership collaboration, LCCC has enlarged its offering to Lorain County and beyond.

The format was kept as an outdoors festival but all of the LCCC buildings were open with interesting activities going on inside the lobbies of the buildings. Many local non-profit organizations and social services were on hand to help make FamilyFest an informative event as well as a fun place to be.

The Elyria Kiwanis, Lorain Lions, Big Brothers & Big Sisters, and the Lorain County Board of Elections were on hand, among others; the latter demonstrated the new computerized touch panels that will be put into service in the upcoming elections.

Two major innovations were: a free concert and the exciting Lorain County Idol contest among area high schools. Also, the Leopard Challenge was measuring and evaluating local and regional police officers in an obstacle course set up in Ewing Field House.

A special tent, called the Discovery Tent, was set up near the University Partnership building with many groups holding activities strictly for children, from face painting to a tie-dye-making table. The Lorain County Prosecutor’s office and the Sheriff’s Dept. were busy making Child ID cards.

And you can’t have a festival without the food—everything was there, from cotton candy to barbecue ribs and Emmanuel’s gyros. The rides and ponies were open late and everyone had a great time. The 12^th Annual FamilyFest was a major success. There was a little something for everyone.

The FamilyFest committee is already hard at work trying to figure out how to surpass this year’s event, thanking the community for its continued support.