On Saturday December 1, 2007, the City of Canton celebrated its First Annual Play Day from 3:00 PM – 6:00 PM. Family Fun at HeritagePark was held immediately following the Holiday Parade. The weather and timing were perfect. Participation from local businesses included a monkey bridge from BSA Troop 241, a giant slide, rock wall and moonwalk sponsored by Canton Chevrolet, kids workshop from Home Depot, ATV safety and display by Honda MotoSports of Canton, Tae Kwon Do demonstration and board breaking by A+ Martial Arts, hula hoops and potato sacks were supplied by the G. Cecil Pruett Community Center, the Explorers ran the raffle for us, plus the tug of war, hopscotch and sidewalk chalk that the committee supplied.

From the time the event opened until it was too dark for anyone to see (which was after 6:00 PM), there were lines at the slide, the rock wall, the moonwalk and the Scout’s monkey bridge. Home Depot gave out over 400 kits to event participants. We sold approximately $125.00 in raffle tickets and gave out key chains, seeds, bottled water and bags from Waste Management.

Kroger, Publix and Ingles supplied water in bottles for drinking and jugs for heating, hot cocoa, cups, cookies, ice, balloons and helium. Bank of North Georgia also supplied bottled water. Ryan's Restaurant supplied hot cocoa and gift cards for Dinner for Two, Johnny's Pizza gave us two gift certificates, Sugarplum's gave us a gift certificate, Outback Steakhouse gave us 2 dinner gift certificates, Progressive Skate Park gave us a gift pass for one month, and Williamson Bros. gave us bottles of spices/sauces and gift certificates to fill four gift bags for raffle prizes. We had children from the crowd pulling tickets for us which for them was really exciting! Fast Signs graciously donated our two banners and helped in getting us some sponsors.

The response from the community was outstanding! The response from the crowd was even better! A very special thanks to Michelle Poole, City of Canton Street Department, Mike Bederian, Parks and Recreation, David Cangemi, Director of Streets, Parks and Stormwater, Cpl. Stacy Bailey of the Canton Police Department, Marcelle Robustelli, Outdoor Living Specialist for Home Depot, and the administration and staff of the City of Canton for all their hard work and support.

We have scheduled our Second Annual Play Day for Saturday, December 6, 2008 from 3PM-6PM. We learned that by having it immediately following the holiday parade, people leaving the parade site would pass the park and see what was happening. We utilized the parade to increase our participation. It also helped in advertising the event as we had parade participants carrying banners that said, "Follow me to Canton's First Annual Play Day at Heritage Park"