THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 2, 1995 TAG: 9510030033
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
PIZZA AND peanut butter alone do not a festival make.
But what do you do if you're inviting a kazillion kids for a play day at the waterfront - the seventh annual Virginia Children's Festival at Town Point Park on Saturday - and you're trying to come up with food for them?
Food that they'll eat, that is.
You think simple. You think easy to handle. You think like a kid. And a parent.
You think lots of hot dogs and ice cream. Cotton candy. French fries. Funnel cakes. Shaved ice.
``It definitely has a kid bent. And it has to be something you can hold neat,'' said Lelia G. Webb, sales and operations director for Norfolk Festevents. She's in charge of lining up food vendors for the weekend festivals during the year.
``This is a lot different, definitely, than you'll find at the wine festival,'' Webb said, laughing.
That means more corn dogs on sticks as opposed to, say, spicy Polish sausages smothered in onions and peppers.
Well, OK, the Polish sausages will still be there. Parents like to eat, too, said Rebecca Bump, a Festevents spokeswoman. Plus there's healthier stuff, like vegetable-stuffed pitas.
But overall, Bump said, ``we do have more traditional fare for the festival.''
This year, many children will be sad to hear, that doesn't include pizza - no vendors. But it does include peanut butter and jelly. And a lemonade stand run by kids.
Still, the fare won't be completely traditional. The PB & J comes in bread ``pockets'' - neater, you know. They'll be available at a Children's Food Pavilion operated by - hold the jokes about school lunches and hospital food, please - the Norfolk Public Schools and Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters.
The pavilion also will pack fruit, orange and apple juice, white and chocolate milk, yogurt, pickles, peanut-butter crackers, animal crackers, marshmallow treats, peanuts and cookies.
And the children running the lemonade stand aren't working toward buying themselves new bikes. They turn their profits over to a charitable cause - last year, it was the Norfolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty of Animals.
Food will be but one part of the Virginia Children's Festival, which is billed as the largest one-day festival for children in Virginia.
This year's version features more than 200 activities from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., including educational and cultural displays and demonstrations - making
giant bubbles, shearing sheep, costumed characters - Sesame Street's Elmo and Cookie Monster, to name two - a petting zoo, ``school-recess'' games with police officers, arts and crafts - it wouldn't be a kids' festival without face-painting - and a slew of entertainers on four stages.
Kids also can participate in a parade. Call 441-2345 for more information.
The festival is free and open to the public. These events are scheduled: [For a list of scheduled activities, see microfilm on page E5 for this date.] by CNB