Artown, Amazement, and Archie

Artown is an annual event that is a month long celebration of all things to do with the arts. Today, July 1st, was the kick off of the month and they held a FREE event for kids. Outside of the Aces Ballpark (which is still seriously one of the nicest structures in our City) they had areas set up, one of which was face painting. We arrived just in time for our 5:30 appointment slot and were lucky to run right into her best of friends near the stairs to the face paint area. While she had initial plans of what she may get painted, as soon as she saw Frances she decided she too must go for the butterfly look. Not only did her friend wait in line with her for her face paint time (Frances had already gone) she also served as model to the face painter to complete Morgan's fantastical look. 

I was not sure what to expect as we have never gone to the opening night before, but I have to say it was GREAT. They did a fantastic job and everything was legitimately free. The face painters they had were really good and took their time with everyone. They gave out t-shirts and let the kids colors them, baseball pins that they could decorate with beads, and had games and other things available for play. 

yes, matching shirts too.. :-)

If that was not enough we headed down the stairs to find the parade area and happened to meet the perfect time to watch the band (Marching Fourth) - we had front standing spots! The band was so fun - they had people on stilts, girls with hula hoops, a full horns section - it was a legit. performance and Morgan LOVED it. They played two songs, after which everyone formed a parade and walked from the baseball area over to a park downtown. The girls were excited to be part of a parade (the first for both) and it was fun to walk down the street with all these people following the band all the way.

Now - if that were ALL it would still have been a great night. BUT, once at the park they got to have ice cream (like really big waffle cones of ice cream) AND they spent some time with Archie - mascot to the Reno Aces. This last photo is Morgan with her "I just got to talk to and high five Archie face". :-) 

It ended with a walk by the River back to the car. The weather was perfect, the river was calming and beautiful as always... I would say it was a pretty terrific Thursday afternoon! Opening night of Artown - we will most definitely be back!!!!