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| MICHELLE HOFFMAN / Scroll |
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| A group of local kids take time to play on an inflatable slide last Tuesday at a carnival in Porter Park. |
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The smells of popcorn and cotton candy filled the air as Porter Park was transformed into a children’s playground last Tuesday for the Back-To-School carnival.
With thoughts of school the next day, the children of Madison County School District and their families played the various carnival games to win prizes or get raffle tickets, jumped on inflatable toys, rode the merry-go-round and ate junk food.
Some of the games that were offered were a Ring Toss over cans and two liters of soda, a game called Thru the Loop which involved throwing little footballs through a hula hoop, face painting, duck ponds, a cake walk and a tic-tac-toe game.
Cari Sanders, a sophomore from Gilbert, Ariz., volunteered for the Fast Pitch game, which involved throwing baseballs at milk bottles set up in a triangle formation.
When no other volunteers came to relieve her, she stayed for an hour and a half more than she signed up for, still happily helping the children knock over the milk bottles and retrieving baseballs, but eventually had to end the game due to advice from the organizers when no relief came.
“Sunday in church they asked us to sign up to volunteer,” Sanders said. “It was so fun and I was totally fine, it was just that no one came to relieve me.”
Amber Goodwin, a junior from West Linn, Ore., helped organize the carnival. She got involved through America’s Promise, an organization that helps implement programs, such as youth city councils, for youth across the country.
“We wanted to let the youth of Madison County know they are loved,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin and her counterparts from America’s Promise were already thinking about hosting a carnival when Rexburg Mayor Shawn Larsen approached them and asked if they would do just that.
“We (America’s Promise and the mayor) pooled together our resources to throw a huge party,” Goodwin said, “and we made it all free so everyone could come.”
Dinner was served and a raffle was started with the tickets the children won from the carnival games.
In addition to everything there was for the children to do, the Boy Scouts of America had a tent to sign up for their association, DARE had a squad car with officers handing out free ice cream, “Covering Kids” health care had a table with information on it, and the Madison County Fire and Police Departments attended and helped with some of the food booths as well as performing a demonstration of a police dog.
