January 21, 2012 10 am - 7 pm
Peoria Civic Center

Welcome to FAMILY FEST 2012 and thank you for your support! January 21 is quickly approaching and before we know it, we will be staging 40,000 square feet of fun, education and entertainment for all of Central Illinois! We hope that you will find this newsletter helpful as you prepare for the event; Family Fest provides you the one-on-one opportunity to touch 6,000 Central Illinois Residents! Once again, we would like to thank our sponsors for supporting Family Fest: Children's Hospital of Illinois, CEFCU, Fun on the Run and new this year Lakeview Museum/Peoria Riverfront Museum!

How to Attract People to Your Booth

Interactivity is the key to a very successful booth at Family Fest. With 6,000 people in attendance you want to make your booth standout and give families something "fun" to do while visiting with you. Here are some ideas from past Family Fest years: Wii Games, coloring books, treasure dig, massages for parents and small rental pieces from Fun on the Run (find more information below). Please let us know if we can help to assist you in coming up with a creative activity for your booth space! The key is to focus on what kids will enjoy!

Fun on the Run Available!

Thanks again to everyone for participating in the 2012 Family Fest! As one of the annual sponsors, Fun on the Run would like to extend a 10% discount off the rental of any attraction for this show. All prices include delivery and set-up at your booth, on-site contact to answer any questions, and pick-up. There are many great choices to choose from to allow you to provide an additional incentive for everyone to stop at your booth. Call the office at 693-9475 to discuss options and availability.

New Attractions!

Along with all of the traditional attractions at Family Fest we are excited for all of the new "attractions" this year. Get a preview / taste of Lakeview Museum's next exhibit, Be The Dinosaur: Life in the Cretaceous. You can see fossils, learn about dinosaurs, and touch a coprolite, (aka dino poo). View the night sky in the StarLab, the museum's portable planetarium. Seats will be limited so visit the Lakeview Museum's booth to make your reservation. Have fun creating personal drawings. Find out how your art could become part of a permanent display in the Peoria Riverfront Museum.

Also new to Family Fest this year will be Barnyard Discoveries and Dance Heads! Barnyard Discoveries is an interactive trailer that teaches young kids about the importance of farming and agriculture in Central Illinois. The trailer is state of the art and includes samples of grains, educational videos and a small petting zoo! Dance Heads, sponsored by Trouble Free Inc. and Top Dog Inspection is certain to have all at Family Fest Dancing! Guests will be able to make a dance video using a green screen! Technology then superimposes the participant's heads into a cartoon! Participants will walk away with a DVD of their performance!

Bags to the First 1000!

Once again, this year the first 1,000 people in the doors at Family Fest will receive a bag filled with great information! If you would like to have a pamphlet or items placed in the bags please contact your Family Fest representative! Items will need to be delivered to WMBD TV or R&B productions before January 16! If you have any questions please give your Family Fest representative a call!