A wide variety of events had the teens in the Riverbank community entertained for a few hours of food and fun on Saturday, Sept. 20 at the Teen Center, the gathering observing its third year. Teen Fest is hosted by the City of Riverbank’s Parks and Recreation Department at no charge to celebrate the youth in the community.
The warm September afternoon and the billowing clouds set the stage for a fun filled day at the Teen Center in Riverbank. There were an estimated 50 youngsters that attended the event and with the variety of activities offered, everyone had something fun to participate in and enjoy.
SpecOps Live Play was the main event at the Teen Fest and had several activities for the attendees to engage in outdoors. The ‘bubbles’ that they brought were a hit with several of the guests including Parks and Recreation Supervisor, Kerrie Webb and Administrator, Juanita Argumedo who fought it out in a bubble battle.
The clear bubbles have a harness in the center where people shimmy their way into the contraption and then the fun begins. There were bubbles bouncing around with guests inside that were doing flips, rolling around, and bumping into each other. Several people are able to roll around at the same time and others are also entertained just watching the collisions occur.
SpecOps also had Archery Tag at the event were people could put on a protective mask, grab a bow and a padded arrow to enlist in a battle between two teams to tag your opponents out.
There were a few instructors as well as co-owner, Cypher Robinson on hand to guide each individual with the skills necessary to participate in both the SpecOps activities.
“We don’t just drop off the items and watch from the sidelines,” said Robinson. “We interact with the people and get involved in the activity.”
Robinson explained that they do birthdays, celebrations, group events, and corporate events and will go just about anywhere in California to bring the joy of live play to people.
Parks and Recreation assistant Stephanie Argumedo manned the music station to ensure a constant variety of tunes during the event. The staff also provided the guests lunch which included hot dogs, chips, soda, cookies, and cake.
The other activities at the Teen Fest were ping pong, board games, and a pool table.
“I think the event ran very smoothly and was a big success,” stated Webb. “The Bouncing Balls (Bubbles) were definitely a hit. I liked the bows and arrows.”
With all the live action play there were no incidents or injuries that occurred, however, there were several smiles and lots of laughter. Which, said officials, was the goal of the Teen Fest all along.
