Bemidji Early Childhood Collaborative Holds Annual Tiny Tots Wellness Fair

The Bemidji Early Childhood Collaborative (BECC) has been holding their Tiny Tots Wellness Fair for the past several years. But as it keeps growing and growing, last weekend was the first time they’ve held it in the Sanford Center.

“A lot of times parents are shocked at how many different resources cater to early childhood-aged kiddos and families,” said BECC Board Member Kami Kelm. “And so walking through here, you can see there’s lots of different organizations that serve that population, and they’re shocked. Most people are surprised by how how much is here in our community to serve them.”

The purpose of the Tiny Tots fair is to gather all of those community resources in one place. Over 30 vendors were present with plenty of information for parents and, of course, plenty of activities for the kids.

“It is crazy madness. Lots of fun,” said Kelm when describing the atmosphere, “We have vendors from a variety of different organizations that cater to early childhood families, so early childhood being like 0 to 5 age kids. People have booths, businesses, organizations that serve these families. And it’s a great place to come and get information for what your early childhood needs might be.”

The Bemidji Early Childhood Collaborative hosts all sorts of activities throughout the year, such as Movement and Play, Circle of Security, and other educational events. Tiny Tots is not only a big get-together on its own—it’s also a kickoff event.

“Tiny Tots kicks off the Week of the Young Child, which is, it’s highlighting the importance of early childhood and early childhood care providers and the importance of that age group,” explained Kelm. “And there’s a different theme for each day of the week, and different businesses and organizations are participating in that as well just again, to highlight the importance of early childhood because so much happens in those first years, and so we want to bring attention to that and make sure that people understand.”

The ‘Week of the Young Child’ started on Monday, but BECC has been collaborating with local businesses’ events for the rest of the week. On Monday, the city of Bemidji proclaimed April 5th through the 11th as the Week of the Young Child.

More information on the BECC can be found on their website.