Downtown Jamestown Development Corporation will be hosting its 4th Annual Farmer’s Market Youth Day on Friday, August 22, 2008.  This free event will take place from 11:00am-3:00pm during the weekly farmer’s market at 19 W Third Street.  A variety of activities will be available for free to the local community.

“This is event is solely for promoting a healthy lifestyle by educating our youth about eating right through our farmers market. They also have a great opportunity to learn about our local agriculture community and how important they are to our community,” said Tiffani Reynolds, DJDC Special Projects Manager.

Each year the DJDC tries to provide a variety of free activities during the youth day. Headlining the Farmers Market Youth Day will be the Children’s Museum of Jamestown.  They will be set up in the DJDC lobby with numerous activities. 

Celebrity guests include Jamestown Jammers Mascot, Bubba Grape the Baseball Ape and Jamestown YMCA mascot, the Y-Guy. Rainbow the Clown will be onsite creating his balloon animals and painting masterpieces on children’s faces.  DJDC will be providing a bounce house for kids to jump around in and Small Meadows Farm, a weekly farmer at the market, will be providing a petting zoo. 

The Soil Conservation Service will have their agricultural display and milking cow on site.  Children can learn how to milk a cow, ride a rocking horse and learn more about agriculture. 

A variety of organizations will have informational tables on site.  Chautauqua County Reality Check, a group of area teens who work together to prevent the tobacco industry from manipulating kids into trying to smoke, will be set up with additional information surrounding their initiatives.  Children will be able to construct their own healthy snack at the WCA Nutrition exhibit. Games, prizes and balloons will be provided by the Chautauqua County Health Department. 

Returning to the Farmers Market Youth Day for the second year is the Grand Lodge Free and Accepted Masons of the New State of New York Child Identification Program (NY CHIP). The mission of the Child ID Program is to aid in the safe recovery of a lost or missing child or senior citizen.  This program is free of charge and will be set up in the DJDC lobby located at 19 W Third Street during the event hours.  To accommodate as many children as possible, it is encouraged to complete an application prior to the event.  Applications are available at DJDC.  For more information on this free program, visit www.nychip.org.

“Our youth day is such a great community event that we host.  The children thoroughly enjoy themselves while they are here,” added Reynolds. 

With all these great activities taking place there will also be free giveaways and goodie bags available.  Children will receive their own free copy of “Growing Vegetable Soup” compliments of Chautauqua County Steps to a Healthier New York.

The Downtown Jamestown Development Corporation will be selling $1.00 hot dogs and cold drinks for lunch. 

There is still time to participate.  Any organization, group or business wishing to participate or donate items for the goodies bags are asked to contact Tiffani at 664-2477.