BETTENDORF, Iowa — Hand in Hand and GiGi's Playhouse held their annual Quad Cities Area Family Fair at Veterans Memorial Park Saturday.
The fair is a chance for families with special needs to learn about and connect with resources in the community. The goal is to bring everything together and make things easy for families.
"There are so many amazing Quad Cities resources out there that people may not know about, so bringing them all into one area makes it easy and convenient," said Samantha Yeager-Walrath, Director of Development and Marketing at Hand in Hand. "Often it's hard for parents to get out on a normal basis, let alone somebody who has a child with a disability."
This year's 20 vendors featured childcare, doctors, recreational activities and financial services. Vendors included the Putnam Museum, Challenger Little League Baseball, Special Olympics, Hanger Clinic, Skip-a-Long Child Development Services, and Schnell & Hancock, P.C.
"We do have a little bit of everything for everybody," Yeager-Walrath said.
Yeager-Walrath said she's glad so many people were able to make it to the fair this year, and that she enjoys seeing the kids so excited.
She added that this year's fair was a little bit smaller than what they're used to. In years past, over 40 vendors have set up in a banquet room at the Children's Therapy Center in the spring. This year they chose to delay it and have it outside with less vendors because of COVID-19.
After they had to host last year's fair online, they decided to create a website.
"When we're not having an in person event, you can still find those resources year-round," Yeager-Walrath said. "So jump onto the website if you're looking for, you know, childcare, recreations, school-aged care. We've got it all."