It’s all for the children this month

Deirdre Newman

The Festival of Children at South Coast Plaza this month offers a

potpourri of activities for children of all ages.

On Saturday afternoon, kids were found playing roller hockey,

creating arts and crafts and getting up close and personal with

exotic birds from The Rainforest Cafe.

The festival also includes seminars on kids’ safety by the Costa

Mesa Police Department, character building workshops for students

from elementary through high school and demonstrations from more than

50 organizations.

This is the first year the plaza has staged a children’s festival

in association with Children’s Hospital of Orange County. The goal is

to bring a variety of philanthropic organizations together so they

can build alliances instead of competing for donations.

“It’s totally unprecedented to bring together children’s charities

under one roof,” said Cherie Rolapp-Khan, event planner. “We just

provided a venue for them to get the word across about the great work

they’re doing.”

Laurie Dugan of Fountain Valley brought her son Mitchell so he

could play roller hockey in a makeshift rink set up in the parking

lot. Mitchell, 6, donned a helmet, knee and elbow pads and proceeded

to skate for the next two hours with two representative/coaches from

the Mighty Ducks/Impact Sports.

“It’s fun because you get to shoot goals and you’re on [inline

skates],” Mitchell said.

Dugan said she was thinking about signing her son up for a roller

hockey league.

“The coaches are awesome; they’re teaching him some technique,”

Dugan said.

Inside the mall, other kids were hard at work decorating paper

visors and surfboards as part of Disney Arts Ventures.

Eight-year-old Adriana Zamora, of Santa Ana, was coloring in the

marine figures on her visor with deep blues and lush greens.

“It’s fun because you get to do different things,” Adriana said.

Later in the afternoon, employees brought some of the birds and

animals from the nearby Rainforest Cafe out into the Carousel Court.

After the show, kids and their parents got to stare

magnificently-colored birds like the greened-wing macaw and an

eclectus parrot right in the face.

Nancy Ozolins, who came with her granddaughter, Julia Munson, 2,

said she was impressed at how close children could get to the birds.

“She loves the parrots,” Ozolins said. “Normally she goes to the

San Diego Zoo, but she never gets this close to the parrots.”

Kim Robinson, of Manhattan Beach, said bringing her children and a

few of their friends to the festival was advantageous for everyone.

“There’s something going on [for the kids] and I got to do a

little shopping,” Robinson said. “So it’s a win-win situation.”

At the end of the month, the executive directors of the charities

involved in the festival will meet to discuss how the festival can

adapt next year to further meet the needs of children,” Rolapp-Khan

said.