St. Peter Recreation hosts Summer Kickoff

With school out for the summer, hundreds of families flocked to Minnesota Square Park on Monday to ring in the summer season with crafts, live music, face painting and even more activities.

The Summer Kickoff, hosted by St. Peter Recreation and Leisure Services, allowed families in and around St. Peter the opportunity to start the season off right with all the activities one could hope for.

There were multiple crafting stations around the park where youngsters could put their creativity to good use. The Mobile Sign Shop gave kids the opportunity to design and paint their own customized wood panel signs. Once a staff member carved the child’s name or a special message of their choosing into the board, the kids were free to paint and decorate their signs however they saw fit.

After spending some of their creative energy, kids could enjoy a hearty meal from one of the many food trucks underneath the Minnesota Square Park Pavilion while area band Bullypulpit performed original bluegrass music live.

While taking in the summer sun, the kids enjoyed jumping around the bounce houses in the park and taking tours of the emergency vehicles on display at the vehicle fair. The event offered kids a close up look at the interior of the St. Peter Police Department and Nicollet County Sheriff’s Office squad cars, the chance to explore a St. Peter fire truck and a River’s Edge ambulance.

In addition to the fun activities, community members could check out the many vendor booths stationed around the park and stop in with the St. Peter Public Library to register their children for the summer reading program.