PLAY Day is for People Learning About Yuma

Sep 28, 2008 (The Sun - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TIF | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Many already know the abundance of services Yuma has to offer but PLAY Day got the word out Saturday with a showcase of the county's homegrown treasures.

People Learning About Yuma (PLAY) was the 13th annual event spotlighting the wide variety of businesses at residents' disposal, said April Haile, coordinator for A-Z Marketing, who sponsored it.

"We have 65 booths and everything is local. We want to show people you don't have to leave town to be entertained."

Held at the Yuma Civic Center, PLAY was free and every half-hour, door prizes were given away by organizations.

Paradise Casinos gave away tickets to the musical group War for its Oct. 11 concert, while Jafra had a gift basket of cosmetics, Yuma Community Theater had show tickets available, The Freedom Library offered collections of books, Friends of the Library had a tote bag, Fresh Coat provided one free painted room, along with many other businesses who also had giveaways.

Two Rivers Renaissance Faire returned for its third PLAY Day, Perry Dockins, producer, noted.

The popular trend began in California in the '60s when Phyllis Paterson, a teacher, started it to make history relevant for her students, he explained.

"We're trying to bring that back and explain how we got here," Dockins said. "The Spanish came here first looking for El Dorado, the city of gold, but the real wealth they found were the indigenous people's chocolate, chili peppers, pinto beans and pumpkins."

One of the more popular exhibits of the Two Rivers Faire was the "trebuchet," a medieval catapult. Arianna Legan, 11, a sixth-grade student at Castle Dome School, got to fire off a water balloon.

"It would've been funny if I hit a bird, but I didn't," Arianna said. "I like the Renaissance characters, they're really cool."

Evan Skiles, 7, a first-grade student at Otondo School, tested his strength and balance in the slack rope tug-of-war.

"I won," Evan said. "I'm having a lot of fun and tonight we're going to the 'Scooby-Doo' movie (at Desert Sun Stadium) with our dog Sasha."

Just next door, Humane Society of Yuma had two Chihuahuas for adoption: 2-year-old Guedo and 3-year-old Jake. Linda Lerma, Humane Society fundraiser, said people often like older dogs because they are already house-broken.

The society was selling name tags that were engraved on site, with all proceeds going toward a new shelter that will provide twice the space of the current facility and expects to break ground in October 2009.

And for those pets with a more competitive streak, there was a flyball demonstration, a relay race for dogs. Flyball, another '60s California phenomenon, became popular locally in the '90s.

The demo was conducted by Fast Traxx a Yuma flyball organization that practices every Sunday next to Friendship Tower, according to Robyn Berg, Fast Traxx owner.

"It's a very intense sport played in a lot of countries," Berg said. "We love it and the dogs love it even more."

Racing across four hurdles on the 51-foot track, while retrieving a tennis ball from a spring-loaded box she triggered with her paw, was 3-year-old Rockette, a yellow Lab whose best time for the event is six seconds. Swivel, a Treeing Feist hunting dog, finished in 4.6 seconds.

Flyball competition is usually done in teams of four dogs. Last year at a national competition in Canton, Texas, Fast Traxx placed first in its division, Berg noted.

Inside the civic center there were many popular booths, including Corona Optique, raffling off a $600 pair of Tiffany & Co. sunglasses. Country Junction, which produces chuckwagon dinner shows at its ranch in Wellton, was raffling off horseback rides.

But one of the longest lines was for the putting green set up by Yuma Investment Group. Scoring a hole-in-one was Jennifer Young, 8, a fourth-grade student at Desert Mesa School.

"I played miniature golf at Disney World last year and beat my mom and dad," Jennifer said.

William Roller can be reached at

wroller@yumasun.com or 539-6858.

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