Chesapeake fun days celebrates families

Published 10:06 am Monday, April 4, 2016

Four-year-old Nikeli Whimbush has fun playing on the swings during sober family fun day event Saturday at Chesapeake Park. The event was hosted by Riverside Recovery Services.

Four-year-old Nikeli Whimbush has fun playing on the swings during sober family fun day event Saturday at Chesapeake Park. The event was hosted by Riverside Recovery Services.

 

CHESAPEAKE — About 60 came to the inaugural family fun days at the Chesapeake park put on by Riverside Recovery Services.

“This is for the community,” Amy Smart, Riverside director, said. “We want to show you can have sober fun and bring out the whole family. This is to celebrate recovery.”

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As the Bounty Hunter Band played, guests dished up grilled hot dogs with all the trimmings.

“It’s a local band,” Smart said. “One of our clients said ‘I know a band.’”

Nearby children jumped inside inflatables.

“I just wish the wind would die down,” Smart said.

Riverside Recovery opened up in October 2015 in Chesapeake offering an outpatient rehabilitation center for alcohol and drug addiction. Currently it has 110 clients.

“We wanted to do this to let the community know what we do and who we are,” Smart said.

She expects more such community events in the future.