The first signs of spring are already here, but that’s not going
to stop one winter favorite from making its yearly visit to
Hollister.
Hollister – The first signs of spring are already here, but that’s not going to stop one winter favorite from making its yearly visit to Hollister.
Local kids can spend the afternoon walking, playing, sledding and pretending in a winter wonderland tomorrow thanks to the Kiwanis Club’s Annual Snow Day.
The Kiwanis Club members will truck 40 tons of snow from Salinas to Dunne Park tomorrow so local kids can have a play day in a setting much different from their own sunny, central California norm.
“There are little kids that can just make your heart cry,” said Kiwanis’ Robert Baumgartner. “There’s kids that never leave town and they’d never know what snow is until they grow up. Some of the little kids, and we’re talking about like five years old, go up to it and they touch it and say ‘What is this stuff?'”
But for a few hours tomorrow, Hollister children will know what snow is and what makes it so special.
“We make little mounds of snow with tractors and then we have the kids and we put them up there on top of the mounds on a little saucer so they can ride down. The little kids really get a kick out of it,” Baumgartner said.
While the Kiwanians are the ones who actually staff the event, Baumgartner said, they couldn’t do it without the help of a few friends: Growers Ice in Salinas gives the club a great price on ice (about $1,000 for 40 tons) and San Benito Bank and West Marine cover the cost. Then Grimsley Trucking hauls two truck loads full of snow from Salinas back to Hollister.
“The Kiwanis club – we’re the ones who go out there because that’s what this service club is all about, is the kids,” Baumgartner said. “If you haven’t seen it, you’ve got to stop by because you have to see the look on the kids’ faces that have never gone on a little saucer or anything. This is our main thing for the kids; it’s just all about having some fun.”
The day will start tomorrow on Seventh Street at Dunne Park at 11am and will last until 1 or 2pm depending on how hot it gets outside. But eager snow-players can show up at 10:30 to watch the Kiwanians shape the snow into hills.
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at jq*****@fr***********.com.
