By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL
Freeport News Reporter
Children at the Grand Bahama Children's Home and the Paediatric Ward of the Rand Memorial Hospital will receive a special treat next month as they will be visited by several popular Nickelo-deon television show characters, including Spongebob Squarepants, Patrick Star, Dora the Explorer, Diego, Jimmy Neutron and Bob the Builder.
The characters will be in town for a special event hosted by Nickelodeon in conjunction with local company Quality Family Entertain-ment on May 3-4 at the Jack Hayward High School gymnasium.
Simeon Outten, president of Quality Family Entertain-ment, explained that the group expressed to him that they were interested in visiting some children who were less fortunate and may not be able to attend the show.
"Once they decided that they were coming to Freeport, they wanted to know if they could visit some places to share their message because everybody isn't as fortunate as others and so we thought, why not have them come to the Children's Home and they definitely wanted to go to the Children's Ward at the Hospital," he said.
"And so we are taking them there to spend some time with the kids."
Caron Smith, assistant administrator at the Children's Home said she was sure that the characters' visit to the Home will be greatly appreciated by the children.
"It will definitely will be a thrill for the children because a lot of them do watch Spongebob and Dora and they are their favourite characters. So it will be a special treat to have them come where they live because most children won't have that opportunity," she said.
"I'm sure they'll be very excited and we're just pleased and blessed to have been chosen by them as one of the places they would like to visit."
Outten explained that the "Spongebob, Vacation in Paradise" show was brought to Grand Bahama as part of his company's mission to host wholesome events and programmes "to help curb a lot of what we've been seeing in our schools and in our community."
"They're doing this Vacation Caribbean Tour and fortunately Grand Bahama is one of their stops... The message that they've been taking throughout the Caribbean is so ripe for what is happening in The Bahamas," he said.
"They're bringing this message of no violence and the importance of a proper education and the focus on reading and how to develop yourself as a young child into an adult to be able to go out into the job market and be a success for whatever area that you live in."
Outten said he was surprised upon learning just how big the costumes are and how expensive the characters are to move around.
"That will amaze some of our kids. These are the original characters that are coming to Freeport and so obviously we are trying to cover the expense through sponsorship for the 23 persons that are coming, that are involved in the production," he said.
Tickets for the "Spongebob Vacation in Paradise" show are available at Gizmos and Gadgets and Frank's Ice Cream.
