2,000 join Columbia Play Project’s first Family Play Day at Vancouver waterfront

Local nonprofit Columbia Play Project hosted an inaugural event for children at the Vancouver Waterfront Park on Saturday and drew more than 2,000 children, parents and grandparents.

The free event, Family Play Day, featured 25 vendors, crafts, games and sensory experiences. It was part of the Columbia Play Project’s goal of showcasing Vancouver’s kid-friendly organizations. The nonprofit is planning another similar event next year around the same time.

“It’s such a rich area for family and children,” said Jeanne Bennett, board chair of the Columbia Play Project.

The event featured games, live music, crafts and other sensory experiences that entertained the kids enough that “meltdowns” were almost nowhere to be had, Bennett said.

“We saw that very few families were having emotional issues with kids,” Bennett said.

The Columbia Play Project is aiming to build a children’s museum in Vancouver, and it secured $515,000 in funding from the state last month to work toward that goal.