Catch All: Folsom Family Expo and Folsom Community Service Day
Aug 23, 2016 12:28PM ● By David Norby
The Folsom Community Center will host Style Magazine’s 11th annual Folsom Family Expo on October 1 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Since 2005, families from around the region—approximately 4,000 attendees—have enjoyed this free afternoon featuring bounce houses, prize giveaways, open admission to the Folsom Zoo, performances and vendor booths—all made possible by the event’s partnerships. “We’ve collaborated with amazing sponsors who have allowed us to continue to offer free admission [both to the event and the Folsom Zoo],” says Style Magazine Marketing and Events Manager Siobhán Russell Pritt. While admission is free, portions of other proceeds benefit special causes Style Magazine supports. Along with fund-raising, the expo serves to connect local businesses with local families. “Folsom Family Expo was created as a way to bring local businesses together with the community and to celebrate families,” says Russell Pritt. “It’s such a fun event; I always meet so many great people year after year,” she says. For more details, visit facebook.com/folsomfamilyexpo.
The third annual Folsom Community Service Day on September 17 beckons volunteers of all ages to lend their time and participate in over 10 different community projects that benefit all parts of the Folsom community, including library book cleaning, lake cleanup, school beautification and more. The City of Folsom pairs with local corporations, businesses and nonprofits to organize Folsom’s largest day of volunteerism, but it’s all owed to Mayor Steve Miklos and former City of Folsom Public Information Officer Sue Ryan. “They believed that the community itself had a keen understanding of the projects that needed to get done in the neighborhoods around the city,” says Communications Manager Christine Brainerd. Last year, over 1,750 volunteers took to the streets, schools and neighborhoods to complete 27 projects. The event values the belief that many hands make light work, and despite the overwhelming turnout, there was no surplus of volunteers, as the event aims to “accomplish many tasks in a single day that would normally take months or even years to complete,” says Brainerd. For more details and to register for a project, visit folsom.ca.us/residents/involved/csday.asp.