A day at the races
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POLSON — Calaveras County has their jumping frogs, Churchill Downs has their ponies, Daytona has their stock cars and Polson has their bugs.
Seventy children came to the Linderman multi-purpose room Thursday armed with bugs, bugs of all kinds, except earwigs, flying bugs, stink bugs, cockroaches and spiders – Daddy Longlegs were acceptable – for the Polson City Library’s 25th annual Bug Race.
Trude Hunsucker, a Polson Youth Service librarian, said that the bug race is the grand finale for the library’s summer reading program.
“They really look forward to it. They’re excited for it and so are their parents,” Hunsucker said.
The children showed their excitement by pounding on the floor as they cheered their bug on to escape the 6-foot circle as emcee Rick Taylor called the action.
In the end, the beetle was the bug to have. Five-year-old Peyton Devlin won with a beetle and Nick Cleveland finished in second with a beetle.
Devlin’s beetle was given to him before the race by Analyse Morgret after his had given up the ghost right before the race. Morgret, 8, won a sportsmanship award for her generosity. Morgret and her sister Madison also had the biggest bug at the race, a beetle that the brave sisters caught outside their dad’s office with a little help from their mom and a water bottle. They didn’t race the beetle because it was too slow.
The races were judged and sponsored by the Kiwanis Club. Justice Feistner finished third. He was followed by Kellen Wright, Jaden Jones and Shawn Davis.
The six were awarded T-shirts designed by Tami Morrison and donated by Total Screen Design.
Seven-hundred-and seventy-five children participated in the summer reading program. The readers were given incentives and raffle tickets for every four hours they read. There was also an activity for the readers every Thursday. Hunsucker said that the bug race was the most popular activity, but water games and craft day also drew a large crowd.
