AUBURN - Five Auburn churches have joined forces to present a week-long celebration in the city.

Members of First Presbyterian, Auburn United Methodist, St. Mary's, United Church of Auburn and Westminster Presbyterian have put together a unique public event at Clifford Park.

Annette Bell, one of the organizers, said that generally the five churches host a vacation Bible school during the summer, but this year it was decided to try something a little different.

“This is a completely new approach,” Bell said. “All five churches usually collaborate on a vacation Bible school, but we wanted to do something to reach the broader community.”

Monday evening, the festivities kicked off, tasking the vacation Bible school premise and taking it in an entirely new direction.

“We wanted to make something for families and children,” Bell said. “We really wanted to do something where the parents will stay with the children and take part in what is going on and not just leave the children, but actually take part as a whole family.”

For the inaugural run of the Family Fun Festival, it was decided to create a rain forest theme, titled Rain Forest Adventure.

Over the course of the week, guests will have the opportunity to learn about nature, wildlife and the environment through interactive activities as well as Bible stories and Bible-based sing-a-longs.

Monday night's festivities started with a small puppet play that illustrated the story of Ruth from the Bible. The story between a monkey and a lizard, who are looking for food, paralleled the story of Ruth, who was also hungry and while searching for food, found the meaning of sharing.

Bell said that sharing is one of the key lessons she hopes children can learn from participating in the festival.

Other activities included games and crafts, all used to illustrate different aspects of nature and what good stewardship of nature and the environment truly means.

“We hope this helps people learn how to be good to the environment,” Bell said. “And that they learn a little bit about what they can do to help take care of the environment and to be good people at the same time.”

Helping to illustrate the ideas of good environmental care, were members of Owasco Watershed Lake Association, demonstrating on a miniature scale what impacts there are on the watershed.

Susan Muldoon, an educator with OWLA, said the group was asked to participate in the festival and that they were excited by the prospect.

Muldoon had a three-dimensional display on loan from Cornell Cooperative Extension, she used this to show how rain water runs down different elevations from driveways, sidewalks, riverbanks and how that runoff impacts the watershed.

“I just hope this gives people a better understanding,” Muldoon said. “And that it helps people learn how what we do impacts the quality of our water.”

The opening night festivities drew a number of children and parents to the park.

Bonnie Clancy and her granddaughter, Aleia Champagne, live just across the street from the park.

“I think it is great,” Clancy said. “They really do a lot at this park geared towards the kids and I think it is wonderful that they do so much to get the kids out here and involved in what is going on.”

With music, singing and dancing, Aleia was among the many children dancing and laughing the evening away.

“It is pretty cool,” Aleia said. “I like making the pictures and all the music and dancing.”