ROCK SPRINGS — The Boys and Girls Club of Sweetwater County put their stamp on Wyoming’s Big Show Wednesday for Kids Day.
Members of the Boys and Girls Club got invited to attend the fair after creating the Wild West-themed decorations for the VIP tent. Lisa Stewart, Boys and Girls Club CEO, said the kids were already making desert-themed decorations at the club when they were approached about making some for this year’s fair. The club members and some staff members made cacti, horseshoes, beavers and snakes, and much more to transform the tent into the Wild West.
“We did all the VIP decorations, we did the big cacti and the rocks and the snakes. All the stuff that’s in there we did in club,” Stewart said.
Stewart said the club members who contributed the most to the decorations were the ones who got to attend Wyoming’s Big Show to check out all the activities, as well as host their own booth with kids games. The games included ring toss, dominos, tic-tac-toe, cornhole, connect four, and checkers.
Since the club members only saw the decorations while making them at club, they described seeing them all set up at the fair as amazing and better than they could have imagined.
While the kids had a blast making the decorations, the fun only continued during their day at the fair. Among their favorite activities included going through the Rock Springs Fire Department’s obstacle course of firefighting skills, meeting the new Rock Springs Police Department K9 officer, going through the small hall, seeing the 4-H chickens and bunnies, and chatting with Lanky the Clown who taught them a trick that makes people believe they have 11 fingers.
The club members said Lanky would count the fingers on one hand from one to five, and then on the other hand count the fingers down from 10 to six. Then he would ask them what five plus six is, giving them a total of 11 fingers. When asked if they fell for the trick, they all claimed Lanky didn’t fool them but were eager to show the trick to others.
They also said they really enjoyed getting to talk to members of the community and that they were excited about the possibility of making new friends while out at the Sweetwater Events Complex. With a few hours still remaining in the day, the Boys and Girls Club had over 82 kids visit their booth and play their games, so that’s a lot of new possible friends.
“Making new friends is a great thing to do,” Stewart said.
