Stamps for Kids engages Chicago youth at Millennium Park

In its tenth consecutive year, Stamps for Kids engaged Chicago youth with stamp collecting fun on Sunday, May 31st. This years stamp giveaway was held at the Chicago Gospel Music Festival in Millennium Park. Stamps for Kids has traditionally been held at Taste of Chicago on Chicago's lakefront Grant Park. After the merger of MOSE, the Mayor's Office of Special Events, Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) invited Stamps for Kids to participate in the Chicago Gospel Music Festival in the past several years. In 2014 "Gospel Fest" was held in Ellis Park in the Bronzeville neighborhood. Stamps for Kids has also been active at Chicago Philatelic Society's Chicagopex postage stamp show, held each November.

On Sunday, Stamps for Kids braved the unforgiving Chicago spring. As a result, attendance at the event suffered. High winds and a 45 degree start, and cold rain the previous day affected expected numbers at Chicago Gospel Music Festival. However, the Kids Activity Zone was busy through much of the day, giving parents a welcome respite from the grueling weather and kids something to do at Chicago's downtown lakefront Millennium Park. The colorful Stamps for Kids area of the Kids Activity Zone tent, festooned with oversize stamp images of the USA and international postage was often filled with excited Chicago school children, eager to have their summer activities begin.

Chicago youth received stamps from donations of the stamp stock currently available. Among them, stamps from Egypt, Iran, South Africa, San Marino, Algeria, Morocco, Guinea, Niger, Austria, England, Costa Rica, Honduras, USA, Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, Italy, Romania, Ukraine, Mexico, Poland, Thailand, China, Japan, and many others. Stamp subjects included kings and queens, princes and princesses, dinosaurs, sports, bugs, birds, flowers, butterflies, presidents, planes, trains, automobiles, scenic landscapes, famous inventors, and art. Children of all ages and happy moms and dads were able to handpick favorite selections from the thousands of stamps available in the Stamps for Kids booth.