There was face painting, interactive jugglers, bungee jumping, rock climbing, giant board games, talent contests, cartoon characters, a Toddler Town, miniature golf….and food trucks offering culinary delights. Oh yes…. the annual City of Aventura’s Founders Day program at Founders Park really had it all as it celebrated its 24th anniversary with a day filled with family-friendly events.
Thousands of residents enjoyed a beautiful outdoor celebration complete with free admission, free self-parking and shuttlebus service to and from all Aventura residential buildings with their Aventura Express continuous schedule.
Families came by the droves to participate in this annual celebration that had little ones squealing in joy as they ran from activity to activity, many of them sporting their face paintings and glitter tattoos. Science and art stations had the older kids intrigued as they made sand art, masks and magnets and created their own Lava Lamps. And of course, there was the Super Slide, a 95’ long slide that allowed three people to slide at once. The First-Down Challenge had players of all ages show off their passing skills and the tennis demonstrations attracted big crowds as well.
Onstage the Aventura STAR finals featured Aventura’s own talent competition and there were five categories: Junior Star (ages 5-8) winner Sharon Nassimiha sang “Roar”; Rising Star (ages 9-12) winner Anabella Halfen sang “Fight Song”; Teen Star (ages 13-17) winner Nicole Rodan sang “Who’s Loving You”; Shooting Star (adult) winner Deborah Ghelman sang “Open Arms”; and Shining Star (senior) winner Phyllis Resnick acted out a monologue from a scene called “Social Security”.
A cartoon character sing along, a Frozen musical revue, a Three Little Pigs sing-along that showed how the little pigs worked together to teach the big bad wolf kindness, and so much more, kept the interest high on the Main Stage throughout the day.
The Aventura Police were there, as always, creating good relations with the entire community. Needless to say, Crime Prevention Specialist Ernie Long’s hot dog truck was kept busy throughout the event.
But this was a Sunday, so never fear…football fanatics were able to watch all the football games broadcast on live network TV on the big screen HD TV’s, and what a great win it was for the Miami Dolphins that day as the won over the New York Jets at Hard Rock Stadium, just a few miles west of Founders Park!
Major events like this require a great deal of advance planning, coordination, hard work and some fabulous sponsors.
Platinum Sponsor was the Aventura Mall; Gold Sponsors were the law firm of Weiss Serota Helfman Cole & Bierman and Brightview Landscape Services, Inc; Silver Sponsors were CAP Government and the Bronze Sponsors were Ronald L. Book, P. A. , Toyota of North Miami VIP Sales, Hotwire Communications| Fision Fiber Optics, and Limousines of South Florida; Patron Sponsors were AAA insurance, Chen Senior Medical Center, FastCare Urgent Care, Hungtington Learning Center Aventura, JW Marriott Miami Turnberry Resort & Spa, Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., Paint Nail Bar – Aventura, and The Dental Care Group & Dental Care Group KIDS
Some local businesses had the great opportunity to be an event sponsor and had great positive reviews. Andrew Madey, Director of Marketing & Patient Relations for the Dental Care Group in Aventura, said, “Our group had an amazing time at Aventura Founders Day…. very successful all around, from a branding standpoint and new patient acquisition standpoint!”.
Kimberly Merchant, Community Services Director for the City of Aventura, oversaw this year’s event, and noted, “Founders Day is the City of Aventura’s signature event highlighting what makes this City a City of Excellence. It is the leadership, the residents, the businesses and the visitors that bring this community together!”
For more information, contact Kimberly Merchant at merchantk@cityofaventura.com
