Hadley Jones tries to hold still for face painter Jessica Coleman, while sister Harper shows off her brand-new Alabama logo. Face painting was just one of dozens of kids’ activities set up Saturday at the United Way’s Depot Day festival in Cullman.

Sammie Danford wasn’t crazy about the prospect of getting dropped into a giant vat of water.

But if it meant raising extra money for the United Way of Cullman County, where she’s the executive director, not only was she up for it — she was happy to do it twice.

Danford and handful of local school officials took their turn at the dunking booth as part of the local United Way’s third annual Depot Day celebration, held Saturday at Cullman’s Depot Park.

After severe weather made last year’s Depot Day a barely-there event, the turnout at the park this year put things back on track.

“We’ve just about got all of the kinks ironed out this year,” said Danford. “We’ve added a car show this year, which has just been huge for us. It has been a great crowd of people, pretty steadily, all day.”

From the car show to live music to tons of games and kids’ activities, Depot Day drew families to the park in a steady stream. Held in front of the agency’s office inside the converted L&N railroad depot, the goal, said United Way officials, was to raise awareness about the organization’s presence in the community while kicking off its annual fundraising campaign.

The United Way of Cullman County supports more than a dozen local outreach agencies, including the Cullman Caring For Kids food bank, the Cullman County Commission on Aging, Daystar House, the Good Samaritan Health Clinic, Girl Scouts, and Victim Services of Cullman.

To learn how you can be a part of this year’s campaign or simply volunteer your time, visit uwaycc.org, find United Way of Cullman County on Facebook at unitedwaycullman, or call 256-739-2948.