Many bouncy houses, an inflatable obstacle course and an inflatable slide provided some fun during the annual End of Summer Escape event Friday at Shields Park in Seymour.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Margret Rhoades, 8, of Seymour, right, shoots water at Toni Harris of Seymour with the Jackson County Public Library as Colton Gasper, 4, of North Vernon, middle, and Mandi Coffey of Vallonia, left, watch during the annual End of Summer Escape event Friday at Shields Park in Seymour.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Employees with the Indiana Department of Health table gave away free bicycle helmets to kids attending the annual End of Summer Escape event Friday at Shields Park in Seymour.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Heather Gibson, left, with the Jackson County Public Library walked kids through how to make their own bubble wand out of pipe cleaners, straws and beads. Arabella Smith, 13, middle and Kennedy Smith, 4, right, both from Seymour followed instructions during the annual End of Summer Escape event Friday at Shields Park in Seymour.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
From left to right, Alyssa Cogwell and Jackie Crane of Southern Indiana Center for Independent Living handed out school supplies based on what kids such as Emiliano Marcos, 7, and Lezly Marcos, 5, foreground, both of Seymour spun, on the wheel during the annual End of Summer Escape event Friday at Shields Park in Seymour.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Branson Mikel, 5, of Seymour holds a bubble wand at a bubble activity station the Jackson County Public Library put on during the annual End of Summer Escape event Friday at Shields Park in Seymour.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Members of the Fraternal Order of Police Donald M. Winn Lodge 108 served free hot dogs, nachos, chips and snow cones during the annual End of Summer Escape event Friday at Shields Park in Seymour.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Families lined up to spin to win items and to enter raffles during the annual End of Summer Escape event Friday at Shields Park in Seymour.
Chey Smith | The Tribune
Summer’s coming to an end, so to send off the summer with a smile, the Seymour Parks and Recreation Department hosted their annual End of Summer Escape event at Friday morning at Shields Park.
At the park ay 600 N. Broadway St., there were many tables and stations representing the Indiana Department of Health, Benchmark Family Services, Jackson County United Way, Southern Indiana Center for Independent Living and more. At these stations, kids were getting bicycle helmets, backpacks and various school supplies.
Families and their kids walked from station to station to experience all the event had to offer. At the center for independent living table, Emiliano Marcos, 7, of Seymour won a box of crayons and his sister, Lezly, 5, won a pencil by spinning a wheel.
There was a raffle, one of the prizes being a bicycle donated by Guardian Bikes.
Members of the Fraternal Order of Police Donald M. Winn Lodge 108 was at the park giving out free hot dogs, nachos, chips and snow cones. There also were plenty of bouncy houses and an inflatable slide and obstacle course for kids to jump into.
Makayla Gasper of North Vernon was at the event with her kids. For the Gasper family, this event has become a tradition for them.
“It’s been a thing we do now,” said Gasper.
Over the years, the End of Summer Escape event has evolved, and Arabella Smith, 13, of Seymour has been going to them since she was little. In the past, the event has been hosted in the Jackson County Public Library, and now, it has grown bigger than ever. Smith also participated in the library’s summer reading program, where she read around 2,000 minutes.
“I just love our library,” Smith said.
The library had many stations and workshops. Several kiddie pools filled with bubble solution were lined up with different types of bubble wands in them for kids to pick them up and swipe them through the air, creating huge bubbles. The smallest of bubbles were created using “DIY bubble wands,” as Heather Gibson with the library explained at her station.
Using pipe cleaners, straws and beads, Gibson led kids through the step-by-step process of making bubble wands that kids could test themselves.
There also was water gun target practice, with three small targets standing to hit with little water guns. Mandi Coffey of Vallonia and Toni Harris of Seymour took turns at another water station, a board with a head-shaped hole cut out of it standing a distance away from the kids. The board read, “Hit me with your best shot.”
Sticking their heads in the hole, either Coffey and Harris would brace themselves for the water coming their way while the other assisted the kids with filling up their water soakers.