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The short-term win from the first-time inclusion of the KidZone is the ability to attend the event with the peace of mind that your children will be in safe, fun, creative and nurturing place just a few dozen yards way from you as you enjoy some of the best food and drink the Bay Area has to offer.
The long-term gain is the possibility of finding your favorite babysitter, as KidZone sponsor Urban Sitter operates an online system by which you can access 250 babysitters in southern Marin, using your own friends (and their friends) for recommendations.
“Urban Sitter is a website that connects babysitters and families and connects them through people you know,” says Colette Perachiotti, Urban Sitter’s community manager for Marin. “Parents can find a sitter and the site will show them who their friends have used. So you’re not just going online and finding a random sitter but finding those who your friends have used.”
The three-year-old site also gives users the ability to focus on specific criteria for sitters, such as CPR training, languages spoken
“And you can pay by credit card and not have to go to the ATM before you come home,” Perachiotti adds.
A number of sitters hired by event organizers through Urban Sitter will be in the KidZone leading crafts like “make your own bandanas.” Marin Theatre Company staff will also be on hand with their “Dramativity” booth, leading a “make your own Play” workshop featuring a “rack of costumes and props and easy things kids can throw on and off to make their own characters,” according to Mariel Rossman, MTC’s education coordinator.
Kids will engage in theater games, with staff using a script and calling on characters and have them act out what’s happening, Rossman says. “It moves quickly and it’s really fun,” she adds.
Click here for more info and to buy tickets for the 2014 Wine, Beer & Gourmet Food Tasting.