USAG BAVARIA – HOHENFELS, Germany – The fields next to the School Age Center buzzed with activities as on-post children, accompanied by their Families, ran, bounced, played lawn games and much more during Kinderfest April 26, 2025.
To celebrate military children and to cap off April as “Month of the Military Child,” U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria hosted the event so organizations from across the Hohenfels community could show their support to Soldiers and their Families.
“This has been the perfect example of the community coming together to celebrate our children, our Families, offering games, activities, food and fun,” said Beth Payne, Child and Youth Services coordinator at Hohenfels.
The Joint Multinational Readiness Center’s Falcon team brought a helicopter so parents could photograph their children inside. The military police Soldiers put “drunk goggles” on children so they could try to stumble from traffic cone to traffic cone in a small obstacle course. The fire prevention team from the Directorate of Emergency Services set up several games, including one where children could use small fire hoses to knock down targets. Outdoor Recreation hosted an archery range. The Hohenfels Veterinary Clinic taught children how to check for a dog’s pulse on a training dummy.
“Hohenfels is special because it’s such a close-knit community, and everyone pulls together to pull this event off,” Payne added.
Christine McConnell, Parent and Outreach Services director, helped organize the event. She said it was apparent the people who make up all the supporting organizations care for children.
“When I look around at these organizations, they may not have direct child customers, but they have Family customers,” she said.
This is McConnell’s 10th year in the Hohenfels community, and she has worked to improve the event year after year. One big change was using the parking lot across from the fields to host even more tenant units’ military vehicles.
Also this year, children from the Grafenwoehr, Vilseck and Ansbach communities were also on hand as Child and Youth Services sports volleyball, soccer and baseball home games took place at Hohenfels.
“April is one month that we focus on celebrating military children and children of the community, but CYS celebrates military children every day,” said Sharon Glazeski, deputy director of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation at Hohenfels.
Aydan and Hunter O’Donnell have lived in the community since January, and they brought their son Stetson out to the event, where they set him into the Falcon’s helicopter and took photos of him.
“We thought it would be a cool opportunity to bring Stetson out and explore, figure out what it’s all about,” said Aydan.
“This has been one of the first days of good weather that we’ve had,” said Hunter. “It’s been nice to get out of the house and enjoy this.”
Hunter O’Donnell, notably, is a member of the Falcon team, and he was happy to show his son around his unit’s helicopter.
Not only was this an opportunity for Families to get to meet face to face the personnel of different organizations, this was an opportunity for Families to meet with one another, for children to bounce in large inflatables together, for parents to have a chat with one another.
Marissa Lopez, a Family member and frequent volunteer with on-post scouting organizations, enjoyed the time with her Family. Her children visited with Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, who brough their vehicles and weapons systems out.
“Last year we weren’t able to walk around because we were at the Cub Scout station,” Lopez said. “This year thankfully other leaders were able to stay there, so we were able to hit all the spots. The kids love it. You can’t get the free items away from them.”
To learn more about Child and Youth Services, visit https://hohenfels.armymwr.com/categories/cys-services.
Social Sharing