Montessori schools celebrate grandparents in Arcata with ice cream social

It’s Grandparent’s Day in the U.S. and Redwood Montessori Schools invited families to have huckleberry and vanilla ice cream at their community garden in Arcata.

Terri Vroman Little, the First Five playgroup leader for Montessori Schools was serving ice cream to families as they came into the garden.

“This is probably the 14th annual Grandparents Day ice cream social,” Vroman Little said.

“It is the actual grandparents day for the United States. And we decided we want to celebrate grandparents. Elders in any community hold so much knowledge and value,” she said. “It’s a way for us to have a fun way to respect and honor our elders in our community.”

Robert Duersken is a local grandfather with a grandson at the school. The two of them showed up at the garden in matching tweed suits.

“I have three grand grandkids,” Duersken said.  “We have a three wheeled rowing machine called Rowgo, and we like to take them down to the bay trails with each other.” 

Duersken enjoys friendly nerf battles as a way to let his grandkids get out energy and build core memories

Vroman Little said that she would enjoy spending time with her own grandparents in her youth.

 “I got to spend time with them and one of my grandmothers, Grandma Roman,” she said. “She would keep us for at least a week in the summertime.”

Elizabeth Mackay, a grandmother and former teacher with the Montessori School was at the ice cream social with her grandchildren.

“I like to take them to the river. We have a paddle board, so we’ll go out on that,” Mackay said. “We live in Blue Lake. We go out to the Red River earlier in the season. Right now it’s a little too green, but I’d like to take them to the beach later in the season. And we also go out to eat ice cream.”

After 13 years of hosting the social in Manila, this is the first time it was held in Arcata.

Story by Abraham Navarra.