Bobbie and Bernard Parks Bring Snow, Gifts and Fun to Leimert Park

For the sixth consecutive year, 8th District Los Angeles City Councilmember Bernard Parks and his wife Bobbie, recently hosted the Annual Winter Wonderland, Toy Give Away and Snow Village in the Leimert Park area of South Los Angeles.

Bobbie and Councilmember Parks extended a warm and Holiday Spirit- Styled greeting to the families, staff, volunteers, firefighters, police officers, and others who were present to make the day a special one for the constituents of Parks' 8th Council District.

Parks made a special acknowledgement to the Merchants of Leimert Park, the Los Angeles Police and Fire Departments, Greater Bethany Church, Charlie Woo, the volunteers, vendors and others, including Santa Claus, who arrived on board a Los Angeles Fire Truck, with sirens blazing, whose support made the event a successful one.

As early as 8:00 am, Saturday morning, area children and their parents queued-up in front of the historic Vision Theater to be among the first to receive one of the thousands of gifts the Parks' collected from area merchants, event sponsors, and others, in order to provide a gift for every child and young adult.

The toys were arranged in a manner that allowed the volunteers to keep the long lines flowing swiftly and smoothly. Boys and girls gifts were stacked separately and age-range markings allowed children of all ages to get age-appropriate gifts.

While Councilmember Parks is the elected official in whose district Leimert Park is located and where the annual event takes place, it is his devoted and tireless wife Bobbie, and her dedicated legion of volunteers, who deserve all of the credit for making this event an annual success.

With the aid of Santa Claus himself, sporting his natural African American skin tone, thousands of toys and gifts were distributed to a seemingly endless line of people who were on-hand to partake of the gifts, food, fellowship, and entertainment that was provided by Bobbie and Councilmember Parks.

Children were entertained with Face Painting, a giant chess game, interactive video game tournaments, and the event that seemed to be the most desired by the young people, having snow ball fights on a small mountain of tons of actual snow, trucked in for the day's event.

In addition, Traditional Korean Dancers and the adorable Junior Bears Cheerleading Squad were present to provide hours of enjoyment for the families that were in attendance.

Television and recording star Dawn Lewis was on hand and wowed the crowd with her fantastic holiday singing and Congresswoman Maxine Waters also stopped by to extend her very best holiday wishes and a happy and safe new year for all.

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