Optimist Club hosts Family Fun Day

The Boulder Evening Optimists Club is inviting local families to the Wild Game in Longmont on Feb. 3 for a morning of games and pancakes at their second annual Family Fun Day.

“We’re calling it a Family Fun Day, because the whole idea is that you can come out from 9 a.m. to noon and spend time with the family on Super Bowl Sunday before all of the football activity starts,” Niwot resident and author Jim Ringel said. He is a longtime member of the service organization. “It’s a really great time.”

Tickets are $30 per person, and include full access to the Wild Game’s eight state-of-the-art bowling lanes, as well as the Game Zone arcade, home of more than 50 video and prize games. Admission also comes with a “very extensive” breakfast buffet including pancakes, bacon, eggs,

sausage and tea, coffee, or juice.

Attendees are also encouraged to bid on items from a number of local retailers in the club’s raffle and silent auction. Among the items up for bid are a signed book and gift certificate from Inkberry Books, lunch at Lucky Pie, and groceries from Niwot Market.

Proceeds from the event and auction will help support the Boulder Evening Optimists’ numerous youth and education-oriented service programs, such as their annual middle school Brain Bowl and high school oratorical contest, which coming up on March 12. They also work with the San Juan Learning Center on a holiday “shopping spree” to provide preschoolers there with gifts to give their families.

“The Optimists Club has been around for many years, and we’re a volunteer service organization that believes in fostering good community through doing activities for kids,” Ringel said. “Basically, our interest is in trying to do things that help make stronger families, because stronger families make stronger communities.”

The club also provides labor and financial support to the Growe Foundation, a local organization that uses gardening as a backdrop for science, math and language arts lessons for elementary school students.

Boulder Evening Optimists is part of Optimists International, a worldwide volunteer organization that “values all children and helps them develop to their full potential,” according to their vision statement. There are currently approximately 40 members in the local club, and they meet monthly on the second and fourth Thursdays.

For more information about Family Fun Day or to purchase tickets, call Joe at 717-343-7084 or Lou at 720-745-8940.