Hundreds flock to Broadway Theatre for all-you-can-eat cereal cartoon party

Spending the day in pyjamas to watch endless reruns of Saturday morning cartoons are distant memories for some, but for people at the Broadway Theatre on Saturday morning, reliving those nostalgic moments was what the day was all about.

The Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival celebrated the final days of its six-day run by hosting an all-you-can-eat cereal cartoon party. It was complete with not only retro cartoons from the ’40s to ’80s, but also advertisements from the same eras.

“The kids have a total blast and the parents dig it too because you get to see stuff you haven’t seen in like 30 or 40 years,” said John Allison, the festival’s director, while wearing his dinosaur pyjamas during the cartoon party.

Attendees ranged in age from a few months old to seniors over 80 years old, but — no matter their age — everyone was laughing along to cartoons such as Godzilla, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? and G.I. Joe.

While some of the festival’s other events struggle to interest the average film fan, this event was a hit with a variety of demographics that wouldn’t otherwise attend a genre-specific film festival.

“Those Saturday mornings are kind of gone now,” Allison said, pointing to the streaming services that offer children’s programming whenever a subscriber chooses.

“It’s bringing that back. This is an important part of our culture. This is growing up. I think it just draws you back in.”

He noted this year went smoother than last year, which was the first time the festival ran the event.

“The theatre bought the cereal … and within 15 to 20 minutes, we were out of cereal,” Allison remembered. “The whole morning, I was running back and forth — cereal after cereal, boxes after boxes. I have a photo of my SUV packed full of cereal from last year.”

Wayne Nowoselski and his wife took their granddaughter out for the morning run of cartoons.

“I never did this before — but hey, all-you-can-eat cereal? You can’t go wrong. It brings back memories; all the different commercials and stuff like that. You forget about these (cartoons) when you have the new ones out now,” he said.

Indulging in a few extra bowls of cereal was also on the menu for Nowoselski.

“I’ve had my fair share for sure,” he said, joking that he ate 12 bowls of cereal.