Michelle Cardenas
If it’s the Fourth of July in Huntsville, you know community members will be coming out to Kate Barr Ross Park to see what the City has in store. With a full house expected in the Park, LEAP Ambassadors arrived early to assist Parks and Recreation–under the supervision of Penny Joiner and Kristy Wheeler–with the large undertaking of entertaining the community.
Parks does this program annually, but it is a lot to put on. There is face-painting, bouncy houses, a dunking booth, a mechanical bull, balloon artists, a watermelon-eating contest, and a selfie station.
Filled with altruistic motives, LEAP Ambassadors did do a couple of test runs on the mechanical bull and in the bouncy houses…just to ensure the equipment was working properly.
At work time, we got down to business. At the information booth, LEAP Ambassadors were responsible for passing out wristbands and parental waivers for those wanting to participate in any of the games and the watermelon eating contest.
Local celebrities such as Aron Kulhavy (City Manager), Sam Maisel (Assistant City Manager), Penny Joiner (Parks and Rec Director) and Greg Mathis (Fire Chief) took turns sitting in the hot seat to get dunked! Taking advantage of the local figures’ goodwill, many people took the opportunity of using their hands to hit the target.
One of the crowd’s favorite events, and my personal favorite, was definitely the watermelon eating contest. The sight of all the participants digging their face into the watermelon was amusing.
This can be quite competitive…
One of our own, Ingrid Cuero…
…was brave enough to participate in one of the contests held. Although she didn’t win, she wasn’t afraid to get messy and demonstrated great sportsmanship!
And this was only one of the festivities!
The other activities proved just as fun for the participants.
Of course, the bouncy house was a fan favorite…
….including of at least one LEAP Ambassador…
And probably the biggest hit was the mechanical bull.
For good reason!
And we can attest to that!
Thanks to the great staff at Parks and Recreation, and support from Huntsville Police, Fire Department and the larger community, this was an enjoyable and memorable Fourth of July.
A lot of us are from larger cities, and it is particularly gratifying to see how welcoming Huntsville is. We are all proud to become more a part of the community, and this made it even more memorable to spend the day volunteering!
Thank you to the Parks and Recreation Staff for allowing us this opportunity and to the Huntsville community for coming out and being a part of things!
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