Mint Hill’s second Family Fun Night drew a crowd to Town Hall on Saturday, June 10.
Saturday’s event featured entertainment by Charlotte’s School of Rock House Band. The rock band comprised of students from Charlotte’s School of Rock entertained the crowd seated on the Town Hall Lawn with an impressive variety of music from classic motown tunes to today’s top hits.
The band took the stage at 7:30 pm, but the night featured plenty of free entertainment for kids beginning at 6:30 pm. Kids had access to two bounce houses, cornhole and giant Jenga. Town Hall Executive Assistant Sheryl Smith passed out free sidewalk chalk and bubbles to children, which proved to be nearly as entertaining as the bounce houses! A little later in the evening, volunteers from the Mint Hill Fire Department brought a truck.
“Best and cheapest place to wear out a kid!” said Devin Fullilove, mom to Ava. “We took our four-year-old and bought her an ice cream, then let her loose on the bounce house and obstacle course. She saw friends from story time and raced them.”
“Lots of fun!” agreed James DeYoung. “My 3-year-old son loved the rides and got his face painted, and we loved the band. Family friendly, not too crowded. We had a blast!”
In addition to free activities, the night offered $7.00 face painting and several food vendors: ice cream, cotton candy, gourmet popcorn, snow cones and Yummy O’s Mini Donuts. “We choose fun food vendors as to not compete with the local restaurants,” said Smith, who was pleased to see patrons walking around with fare from nearby restaurants like Subway and Hawthorne’s.
Family Fun Nights, sponsored by the Arts and Science Council and Truliant Federal Credit Union, are new to the Town of Mint Hill. “In the past we did movies on Fridays in May and concerts on Saturdays in June,” said Smith. “We decided this year to try fewer events with an extra flair.” Although the town-hall sponsored events will be fewer in number this summer, the event organizers hope to bring the community together with higher quality events that promote Mint Hill and all it has to offer.
Attendees enjoyed the manageable crowd at Saturday’s event. “We thought it would be more crowded,” said Fullilove, adding “Parking was great.” “I love that Mint Hill provides these smaller, easily accessible events,” agreed Joseph Gardner.
The event’s organizers were pleased with the event and the turnout. “You always would like a bigger crowd,” said Smith, “But it was bigger than anything we’ve had in the past two years (outside the Patriotic Concert). We were very pleased with the event and the energy it brought to downtown.”
The next Family Fun Night will be Mint Hill’s annual Patriotic Concert featuring the Queen City Brass Band on July 3. It will once again feature vendors and bounce houses. On August 19, Town Hall will host a Back to School Pep Rally with Independence High School, and on September 9, country artist Gal Friday will perform at the End of Summer Concert. All events take place in front of Town Hall.
