Resorter, Friday, March 25, 2016, Page 16

Blue Ribbon Kids Day: Good Old-Fashioned Family FunOn Saturday, April 2 from 8:30 a.m. to

12:30 p.m., Waushara County residents and visitors will travel to Parkside Middle School, Wautoma, for the 24th annual Blue Ribbon Kids Day, a free resource fair offered to parents and children in the community.

The event initially started in April of 1992 to help provide families free recreation as well as an opportunity to learn about the resources available to them according to Blue Ribbon Kids Day Committee Chair Jan Novak. Since its inception, the event has grown from 125 to about 1,000 attendees.

“There were some community assessments that were done that kind of said it is hard for families on limited funds to have access to recreation,” said Novak. “The day was created

to help people know about what resources are available and provide some free, family fun.”

For the past 24 years, Blue Ribbon Kids Day continues to be a staple within the community every April to help raise awareness for National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

“Blue Ribbons are the symbol for child abuse prevention month, which comes from a grandmother in Virginia whose grandson was killed because of child abuse. She started tying blue ribbons on her antenna and encouraged other people to do it as well,” explained Novak. “So the blue ribbon started to become more of a symbol and it came about during a time we were developing new services for parents.”

To be able to fund the event each year, the committee consisting of Novak, Mary LaBlanc, Eli Ashley, Whitney Golding, Angie Konieczki, Cynthia Loa, Deb Premo, Joan

Voight, and Marcia Riendeau, work to contact area businesses and civic organizations for donations.

“It is funded entirely from donations from the community,” explained Novak. “We have volunteers who are part of the planning committee and a lot of volunteers who work the day, but it really is the community doing it; it’s just us organizing it.”

With the amount of volunteers willing to work the event, from the Wild Rose Kiwanis organizing and managing the registration, civic groups providing funding, the Wautoma, Wild Rose, Tri-County National Honors Society members, middle school students, exhibitors and volunteers, including the fire departments, the event has become something people look forward to each year.

“Some people have been coming for 24 years,” said LaBlanc. “A lot of these people say I brought my kids and now I’m bringing my grandkids.”

Novak added, “I think people are really happy that it is totally free. They can come and some grandparents will plan to have their grandchildren that weekend so that they can come to this.”

Throughout the day, those who attend Blue Ribbon Kids Day are provided with information about child safety, health and nutrition, financial services available, or parenting education programs, and fire safety as well as free recreational things for families to enjoy within the county.

For children attending the event, the committee works hard to provide events throughout the morning. This year’s Blue Ribbon Kids Day will feature a center stage performance from Rick Allen’s Beyond Belief

Magic Show beginning at 10 a.m.; the Haven’s Petting Farm, LLC, featuring bunnies, chicks, lambs, ducks, goats, a calf, alpaca, mini pot pig, and a mini horse; and the Stevens Point-based Natures Niche will allow children of all ages to experience exotic animals.

Other events offered for the children include: Coloma Fire Department’s Fire Safety House, Project ID, fire trucks, ambulances and emergency vehicles, A&W root beer floats, Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen, a bouncy house, bouncy obstacle course, and the Evergreen Chippy Express.

Each year, the Blue Ribbon Kids Day also offers door prizes to the

children, with this year’s theme active play. Some of the prizes that will be given away consist of a basketball hoop, sand and water table, water park passes, a bike, and a car seat.

“The car seat every year is donated by the Redgranite AMVets Auxiliary; they’ve done that for every year for the past 24 years,” said Novak.

There will also be special prizes, including dinner gift cards, available to the parents who complete the surveys requested of them at the event.

“Ninety-nine percent of the surveys returned say that the information they get there is helpful for them in the role of parenting,” said Novak. “We hear from parents that the information they get is valuable; we hear from the exhibitors that people might learn of their services through the event.”

With the amount of information and fun available at no cost to families, the committee members believe that the day will allows the community a chance to get out of the house and enjoy a day together.

“When people are often looking for things to do, they look outside their own area and they forget about what is right here in their backyard,” said LaBlanc.

Novak added, “It’s is some of that good, old-fashioned, hometown fun. It’s not a video game or electronics; it’s all about the simple things that you forget to take advantage of. You can climb on a fire truck, you can see inside of an ambulance, you can learn about things.”

by Katie Schaefer, News Editor

Evergreen Chippy Express pulls into the parking lot of Parkside Middle School, Wautoma, during the 2015 Blue Ribbon Kids Day. The Chippy Express will again offer rides to attedees throughout the morning on April 2.

Dennis Tlachac, from Nature’s Niche and Animal Rescue in Stevens Point, places a Blue the Red Iguana on the hat of

Damien McEvoi, Berlin, during the 2015 Blue Ribbon Kids Day.

The 24th annual Blue Ribbon Kids Day will be held at Parkside Middle School, Wautoma, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on April 2. Pictured are Blue Ribbon Kids Day Committee members: Eli Ashley, AmeriCorp member, Mary LaBlanc, Jan

Novak, Blue Ribbon Kids Day committee chair, and Whitney Golding. Not pictured: Angie Konieczki, Cynthia Loa, Deb Premo, Joan Voight, and Marcia Riendeau.

Grant Klusmeyer was fascinated with the Coho Salmon eggs he got to see in a jar at the Wild Rose Fish Hatchery table during the 2015 Blue Ribbon Kid’s Day at Parkside Middle

School, Wautoma.