2018 Hootin an Hollarin: Terrapin races & free kids games and fun
Photo above: Tena (Walrath) McKinzie, left, and brother Joe Walrath, far right, along with Patty Blackburn, center, were winners in the 1976 terrapin races. Tena, who won first place, said she and Joe (third place) would scan the roads on their way home from the family farm Sundays about a month before Hootin an Hollarin. When they would find a speedy-looking turtle, they’d ask their dad stop and pick it up. They let the terrapins loose in the family basement and fed them and worked with them every day. Tena said, “Sometimes we would get a little panicked if we couldn’t find them right away. Good memories!” Tena said this photo sat on the living room shelf of the Walrath house for quite a few years.
Terrapin races
Terrapin, turtle, tortoise... whatever you want to call the hard-shelled reptile is just fine, just round one up and haul it to the square for your chance at this long-standing Hootin an Hollarin event title.
The terrapin races, under the direction of Pamela Sisney this year, will be held at 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday near City Hall on the northwest corner of the square. All competitor terrapins will be placed within an area in the center of a circle and released. The first one to make it to the edge of the outer circle is the winner!
Cash prizes will be awarded to first, second and third place winners each day. Contestants should bring their own terrapin and arrive 10 minutes early. The races will begin promptly at 11 a.m. There is no cost to enter the contest.
Free kids games
Other free kids games held just after the terrapin race will include the tin can ball throw, a game in which kids toss a ball and try to knock down a stack of tin cans, a hillbilly candy walk (operated like it’s cake-walk cousin) with candy prizes and a corn digging tub in which younger kids can hop into a big grain bin full of corn and search for their own treasure prizes. The free kids games will be set up and available from 11 a.m. to noon Friday and Saturday.