Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Jeff Scott, a ventriloquist, bends down to let Raeanne Nelson, 5, of Rocky Mount (center) play with his marsupial puppet, an opossum named Cletus, during Saturday's Tons of Fun event at Tanglewood Mall.

Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Gabriella Tickner, 3, dons a tutu as she participates in a ballet demonstration with members of the Roanoke Ballet Theatre during Saturday's Tons of Fun carnival at Tanglewood Mall.

Saturday at Tanglewood Mall, 7-year-old Kody Thomas tried out trumpet playing for the first time in his life.

Guided by Hidden Valley High School student Jonathan Hartranft, he puffed his cheeks and blew on the mouthpiece while his mother watched with an amused smile.

Afterward, as Kody headed around the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra's "Instrument Petting Zoo" booth to try his hand at a violin, Hartranft cleaned the trumpet. After all, dozens, maybe hundreds more people would test it before the Tons of Fun carnival ended that afternoon.

"We have lots of disinfectant," joked Liz Lochbrunner, the symphony's education director, who supervised the booth, which was intended to show children and others who stopped by to try out instruments that "it's not just the people in tuxedos onstage who can play."

And though the trumpet was popular, the different types of drums on display were even more so. "Who doesn't love to make noise?" Lochbrunner said.

The RSO was just one of two dozen groups hosting activities at the indoor winter carnival, organized by the mall in collaboration with the Roanoke County Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

Inside an empty store space nearby, members of the Roanoke Ballet Theatre did demonstrations for an audience of tiny young girls, who put on tutus over their street clothes and attempted to follow along with the dance maneuvers.

The event, now in its 10th year, doesn't just recruit inflatable pirate ships, ventriloquists and magicians, though such fare also was on hand. The event also works with regional nonprofit groups in hopes of helping them get some extra exposure, mall marketing director Rebecca Spaid said.

In the spirit of the festivities, Spaid sported a temporary tattoo of the mall's starburst logo on her cheek.

The crowd that gathered Saturday morning filled the mall from one end to the other. On one end, long lines stretched up to the rides and the face painting tables.

On the other end, ventriloquist Jeff Scott played to a crowed of children gathered at the edge of the stage, as his opossum puppet named Cletus lamented, "I got run over by a car!" and demonstrated how the mishap made his nose look smushed.

His audience and their parents were all smiles.