Hot Springs Horizons Holds Kids' Fun Fair

HOT SPRINGS – The Children & Youth Task Force of the Hot Springs Horizons project recently held a Kids’ Fun Fair where several children and their parents participated in a wide variety of arts and crafts projects, as well as fun games and relay races.

The event, held in cooperation with the Hot Springs Area Chamber of Commerce’s Ultra Crazy Days celebration on Aug. 25, served as a fundraiser for the Children & Youth Task Force while also addressing the needs of area youth based on a survey the task force performed earlier in the spring.

The survey gained input from 174 school aged youth in Hot Springs and found that they were most interested in learning and participating in games/sports as well as arts and crafts activities. Those top-2 areas of interest then laid the basis for the activities available at the Kids’ Fun Fair.

A moderate, but successful, number of children attended the fair where they participated in free games, including a spoon race, puzzle race, and sponge race.

The majority of the children who attended however spent most of their time creating arts and crafts projects, which were made available for a nominal fee, from .50 cents to $2. These projects included the construction of wooden bird houses, dream catchers, God’s Eyes, sponge balls, finger painting, ceramics and face painting. Cookies and refreshments were also made available.

To help entice people to the Centennial Park area, where the event was held, task force member Gerald Colligan set up a Lakota tipi on one end of the park where children were able to enter and also listen to storytelling. A puppet show and live musical entertainment by a youth band was also performed during the four-hour event.

The event raised more the $200 for the Children & Youth Task Force through ticket sales for the arts and crafts projects. Business Sponsors were also solicited where the All Star Sports Grill donated funds for start-up monies, Pamida Discount Store provided much needed materials for the games, and the Hot Springs Star provided free advertising for the event.

The Kids’ Fun Fair also served as a contact point for the Horizon’s Steering Committee to distribute cameras to community members for the Horizons photo project.