12 photos of folks bumming around in the park

If Jayden Cranston looks a little distracted, we really can't blame him.

While the toddler waited pretty patiently for all this picture taking tonnes of fun was being had right behind him.

We found him and his family at the 50th Anniversary Bon Soo bum slides in Bellevue Park yesterday during the special Friday preview before the festival's opening ceremonies.

Not surprisingly, he didn't want to stand for long beside anyone for his picture.

Jayden really just wanted to get to those slides and join in all the screaming fun that was being had just a three-second bolt behind him.

It's no wonder, either, after all the hard work that went into building the bum slides this year.

"We started about a month ago with dirty parking-lot snow because that's all we could find," said bum slide volunteer coordinator Marcel Spooner. "Then, when we got that big snowfall and we started building up the hill with clean snow."

Spooner said Brian Petingalo, the supervisor of bum slide construction and maintenance, has been putting in eight to 10-hour days for much of the past month to get the hill and slides into breathtaking great shape.

He told SooToday.com we shouldn't be surprised to find Petingalo on the hill adjusting, watering and maintaining the slides well into the wee hours of the morning this week as well.

Petingalo will be keeping the bum slides in top form throughout the week for kids of all ages.

They are open during Bon Soo Tim Hortons Winter Playground hours from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday this weekend; from 5 to 8 p.m. weekday evenings this week; as well as 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, February 9 and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, February 10.

For more information on the 50th Anniversary Bon Soo Winter Festival and it's many activities, please visit it's website.