Wearing a butter-cup yellow dress, a little girl teetered into the Children’s Fair and into the arms of Ariel, who sparkled in her fitted green mermaid tail. Ariel crouched down to the girl, Cara Buck, and wrapped her in a hug.

“I was very excited because I knew she would be,” Cara’s mother, Jennifer Buck, said of her daughter when they walked into Heiges Field House and saw the Disney princesses. Cara became even more excited when she spotted Rapunzel and Cinderella.

Students from the Children’s Theater at Shippensburg University dressed up as princes, princesses, Mr. Incredible and as a scarecrow to encourage children to attend their playhouse performances. Their costumes added a sprinkle of magic to the field house, which was crowded with booths, students, community members and the hip-level and knee-ranging children whom the event catered to.

As the 33rd annual fair, the field house was packed on Saturday, March 28. Organizations from the community as well as SU set up booths with games, prizes and crafts. Children flew up and down in the Frozen-themed moon bounce, punched air-filled bags in the blow-up obstacle course, carefully poured sand into jars for sand art and sat perfectly still for face painting. Admittance and crafts were free, but people could purchase 25 cent tickets to play the games.

It is an inexpensive event for families to enjoy, said Kelsey Roman, adviser for the Center of Engagement, Service and Learning (CESL), which hosted the event.

“We just want the kids to go away with something they could not get at home,” Roman said, adding that it is a sad thing to have to say. Not all families can afford to go to amusement parks and expensive vacations, but the fair provides children with a fun experience.

Since this is the first year CESL arranged the Children’s Fair, Roman said they changed some of the events to focus on more sustainable learning. There were more games geared toward education and allowing the children to learn as they played and made crafts, Roman said.

The Shippensburg Kiwanis Club and the university’s affiliated club, Circle K, had a joint booth filled with books and board games, which were all donated. Eye-level with the table, one girl dressed in all pink clutched a an equally pink picture book in her left hand as her right hand reached for another.

“Kiwanis is dedicated to helping children of the world,” said Samantha Stevenson, Circle K president.

Over at the Quidditch Club booth, three hoops stuck out of the floor like bubble wands to serve as makeshift goals from the Harry Potter game of Quidditch. The objective is to get the quaffle, in this case a slightly deflated volleyball, into the hoops.

There was one toddler who had to be held up to the hoop by his mom, Mary Grace Keller, Quidditch Club president said. He was about three inches from the hoop, but he just kept dropping the ball and missing the hoop completely. Children of all ages, from as young as 2 to 11 or 12 visited their booth to play Quidditch, Keller said.

“It’s nice to see all of the little kids having fun,” Bree Walland said at American Marketing Association’s nail painting station. Walland and her friend, Shelby Stachel are both SU seniors and agreed that volunteering was worth it just to see all of the cute children and listen to some of the funny things they say.

The tie-dying station was especially crowded with children bent over plastic bins as volunteer students helped them to squirt the dye onto wadded t-shirts. The children seemed concentrated, hair falling over their faces as they watched the colors stain the white fabric.

“It’s a little chaotic, but it’s fun,” tie-dye volunteer Ashley Freeman said.

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