Attendees of the Military Family Support Day, held in Lacey, enjoyed a fun-filled family and community affair under the sun, all for free.

"We put it on every year to recognize the military in our communities and their families," said Co-Chair of the event, Dave Newkirk.

Hundreds of military members, veterans and their families enjoyed a completely free day of food, entertainment and fun at the 14th Annual Military Family Support Day Sept. 10.

"We bring out the local community to come out and celebrate with them," Newkirk added.  "Let them know that, ‘hey, you're part of the community and we love you just the way you are.'"

The free family fun for military members isn't hard to find either.

"We've been here at Cabela's for the past six years," Newkirk said.  "We wanted a destination that everyone could find and Cabela's has been one hundred percent supporting of it since day one."

The overall emphasis is community, but free never hurts.

"Everything is free - bounce castles for the kids, candy, food, entertainment, and this is a way to show that this is a military community," Newkirk said.

Dave's no stranger to how important the community's support is either.

He first came to this community with his Army dad, then after joining the military himself, decided to come back.

"This is home," Newkirk added.  "We are a military community and we want them to know that they are welcome here, that we love having them in our community and that they are part of our community."

The importance of showing support to the servicemembers that protect this nation has been forefront even more lately, but the families that stand by and support those individuals shouldn't be forgotten either.

"We're doing this for the families of the military, because they are sometimes forgotten in the fight and that's the reason this was started fourteen years ago," Newkirk stated.  "There's a lot of soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines that are off fighting for our country, but their families are left behind. So as a community, we rally together to show them that, we support you.  Even when your servicemembers are off fighting, you have a family here that supports you and helps you."

It wouldn't be a true military affair without the grandiose show of support, this time coming in the form of a military supporting helicopter that had thousands of little brown objects falling down from the sky.

"The helicopter gets twenty thousand Tootsie Rolls and drops it from the helicopter into a drop zone that we have created here on the ground with the (Navy League) Sea Cadets that hold the drop zone line," said Newkirk.  "Then all the kids run out and stuff as much candy as they can into their bags and then go on their way or back to the entertainment; it's definitely the highlight of the event."

Military Family Support Day isn't all just fun and games either, optional donations are collected throughout the day to support several charities around the community.

Charities that benefit from this event are JBLM Santa's Castle, Foofaraw, Navy League - Sea Cadets, Holy Family Military Student Scholarships, Air Force Reserve 446th Care and Share, Air Force Association's Pilot for a Day and many others.

"The Hawks Prairie Rotary sets up and puts on the event, so those interested in getting involved or helping out with the event can contact us at HPRotary@comcast.net."

The Hawks Prairie Rotary meets Fridays at noon at The Golf Club of Hawks Prairie.