American Express, the event's major sponsor, made its presence known through everything from the branded rain slickers on staffers and volunteers to its "Twinkle Twinkle Changing Station" and break rooms for families in need of pit stops, and its "House of Stars" tribute to moviemaking, where kids could sit in a director's chair, design costumes, and have headshots taken (they were just Polaroids, really).

Alongside several activity tents for kids, a variety of food, clothing, and other merchandising booths set up on Greenwich Street. Concert stages featured musical acts and kids' dance troupes—a hip-hop group of preteens called City Kids was followed by a Russian folk-dancing and ballet troupe.

Event cosponsor GMC created a kid-pleasing, parent-tempting display. Kids could play with a remote control racetrack for model GMC racers while their parents checked out model cars on display.

Among other sponsors, Scholastic Books operated a huge tent filled with children's books, plenty of movie tie-ins, and storytelling (a separate celebrity storytelling tent provided more literary entertainment). American Express gave out free T-shirts silk-screened with the line "Talk to My Agent."

Sand sculptor G. Lynas crouched above a sandbox as children watched him sculpt a hippo. Actors dressed like cops, robbers, and gangster mols delighted strolling kids and parents with impromptu acting lessons. Scratch DJ Academy gave its own lessons in the art of DJing. Meanwhile, Chess-in-the-Schools' giant chessboard enticed the chess fanatics into casual chess tournaments to promote chess playing in public schools.

—Jim Knable