CARLSBAD ---- Santa's village,
snow-sledding and a hillside of spring flowers may seem
like an odd combination, but that's what families will find
when the visit Kids' Day at The Flower Fields next weekend.
A new Santa's Village play area was added over the winter
and to celebrate its opening, a host of winter-themed activities
are planned at the annual Kids' Day event, organizers say.
The 50-acre Flower Fields opened its 10-week spring season
early this month, but the full rainbow of colors seen during
the fields' peak blooming season is just now beginning.
Since The Flower Fields ---- billed as the world's only
working ranunculus field --- are popular spots for family
photographs and a wonder to small children, Flower Fields
operators schedule a children's day program every spring
with a wide range of entertainment and activities.
Kids' Day will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Events include "make-and-take crystals" hands-on
science project, face-painting, animal balloons, a papermaking
craft and a Lego building area (courtesy of nearby Legoland
California theme park). Parents can also get a free child
safety ID for their children.
Coast Kids Theatre will perform a musical revue of songs
from "The Wizard of Oz" from 1 to 1:45 p.m., Ronald
McDonald will visit from 2 to 3 p.m. and puppet shows are
planned throughout the day by the San Diego Guild of Puppetry.
The Elves will perform rock 'n' roll music from noon to
5 p.m., and Khausak, a South American flutist, will perform
during the afternoon.
Over the winter, The Flower Fields installed a Santa's Play
Area that once occupied the now-defunct Santa's Village
play park in Lake Arrowhead. The three whimsical playhouses
and 10 giant mushrooms were purchased at an auction in 1998
by Fields co-owner Paul Ecke. For several years, the play
structures were lodged in Ecke's sister's yard, but just
in time for Kids' Day, the playground equipment has been
installed at the Flower Fields.
"I am really excited about sharing (the buildings)
with the next generation of kids," said Ecke, who couldn't
resist buying the whimsical structures because he used to
visit Santa's Village as a young boy. To celebrate the addition
of the holiday-themed play structures, a truckload of snow
will be brought in for sledding and snow play at 11:30 a.m.
(warm weather may make the snow's visit brief).
Kids' Day visitors can also enjoy the other attractions
at The Flower Fields, including tractor wagon rides, a sweet
pea maze, sluice-mining, rose and theme gardens and picnic
areas. New this year is an American Flag of Flowers, made
with red, white and blue anemone flowers planted on a 300-by-170-foot
hillside.
As a special treat for local Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Brownies,
Girl Scouts, Campfire Kids, Awanas and members of local
Boys & Girls Clubs, anyone who wears their uniform or
can show proof of membership will receive a free pot, soil,
flower seeds and instructions on how to pot their own flowering
plant.
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