GARY | Hot dogs. Rusty the RailCat. Inoculations. Just another day at the ballpark.

Gary's Steel Yard was home to the first Lakeshore Kids Immunization Fair on Saturday. The event was hosted by Lakeshore Public Television and co-sponsored by The Times.

Vendors at the event provided free health services, supplies, food and entertainment for school-aged children in preparation to hit the books.

From face-painting to hugs with Ronald McDonald and Clifford the Big Red Dog, RailCats stadium appeared to house any other fun fair.

Except the upstairs, second-level suites had become small nursing stations for free immunizations.

Natalie Webster whimpered softly as she walked with her mother, Jeannie Webster, to nurses awaiting them in the Victory Lane suite.

Between sobs, Natalie flashed her blue tongue, stained from joyful dedication to her lollipops. The 5-year-old Valparaiso girl then bounced across from her mother, a white butterfly barrette clasping her wavy blond hair.

"All these kids have to get shots," Webster tried to reassure her.

Then the screaming began.

As quickly as it started, nurses had coaxed three inoculations into Natalie, who proudly displayed her bandaged arm.

As Natalie gloated upstairs, red-clothed members of the Jessie White tumblers flipped through their performance on mats on the baseball field.

Across the stadium from booths for the Girl Scouts and Geminus Head Start, local police officers helped a string of children document their fingerprints. Armed with a hand wipe for cleanup, Hobart officer Garrett Ciszewski helped press 2-year-old Julisse Washington's tiny fingers onto her sheet.

Parents were treated to the sounds of the Jackson 5 and The Temptations, while eager children sat for face-painting.

East Chicago native Jazmine Robles' 2-year-old face was coated in a pink butterfly that matched her shirt and shorts.

Megan Ciszewski, director of marketing for Lakeshore, said planners anticipated about 4,000 children would attend, but they did not have a final tally.

The inaugural event helped prepare children for school and was a way to show the community that Lakeshore is "more than TV," she said.