For more information, contact
Rebecca Rasberry
(870) 972-4454
rrasberry@sbrmc.org

Fourth Annual Kidz Fun Fair Set for Aug. 22

The fourth annual St. Bernards Kidz Fun Fair has been scheduled for 8 to a.m. noon Saturday, Aug. 22, at St. Bernards Auditorium at 505 East Washington Avenue.

The free event is designed for youngsters in Kindergarten through Grade 5 and will be a fun morning of entertainment and health education for parents and children. This year’s Kidz Fun Fair will have a have an emphasis on reading as well as a focus on back to school. Entertainment will be provided by Thaddeus Rex (aka Thaddeus Holmes), an award-winning children’s songwriter and acoustic rock singer who presents concerts and programs throughout the country.

“This year, Kidz Fun Fair will have a back-to-school theme,” says event co-chair Lisa Graves, a member of the sponsoring group, the Women’s Advisory Council of the St. Bernards Development Foundation. “Last year, we focused on back to school, and we saw a tremendous need.

“We were overwhelmed by requests for school supplies, and we were able to distribute basic supplies to about 1,500 youngsters. This year we hope to equip about 2,000 K through 5th Grade students with basics for back to school while our supply lasts.”

Graves noted that a number of organizations and businesses from Jonesboro and Northeast Arkansas have joined the Women’s Advisory Council to help collect school supplies this year. “We are so appreciative for the strong community support we are receiving to help area youngsters get off to a good start in school.”

The doors will open at 8 a.m. to a health-fair-like setting, and K through 5 youngsters will be able to pick up school items, including backpacks, while supplies last. Special Kidz Fun Fair T-shirts also will be available for children while supplies last, as will the children’s book Whoever You Are written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Leslie Staub. The soft-back book is a Voyager Book, a trademark of Harcourt Inc.

The fun fair will include a wide variety of fun activities. Booths will be set up both inside and outside at the Auditorium by groups and organizations that provide pediatric health-related and safety services and enrichment programs. Among booths and exhibits expected to attract a lot attention will be the Arkansas Game and Fish mobile aquarium, the Bill and Alice Nix Petting Zoo from Arkansas State University, the interactive video hunting simulator from the Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center in Jonesboro, an inflatable Moonwalk, DARE vehicles, a fire truck, the KAIT Storm Tracker, the Turner Dairy cow and more.

Among organizations with booths will be The Children’s Clinic, the Craighead Electric Safety Booth, the Girl Scouts, the Craighead County Library, Vision Care Center, Fitness Boot Camp, the ASU baseball team, the United Way Imagination Station, the ASU Museum, the ASU soccer team and more. Special costumed characters to be on hand for the day include the new St. Bernards mascot known as “Bernie,” BlueAnn Ewe from Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Chick-fil-A cow, Dave Pelletear (the “stilt” clown), McGruff the Crime Dog, Spud the Clown, St. Bernards Fit Quest for Kidz and Fit Quest for Teenz, Foundation of the Arts and more. Triple FM will have a remote truck on site as well.

This year’s entertainment will include three performances by Thaddeus Rex, sometimes just referred to at T-Rex. Those are scheduled for 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. T-Rex uses his quirky songwriting to encourage youngsters to share his passion for reading and to use their imaginations to become creative thinkers. He pushes kids to “Read Like a Rock Star” in his high-energy, interactive stage show.

The Danville, Ill., native grew up in Indiana, spending his formative years reading, playing first chair trombone in his high school jazz and symphonic bands and studying martial arts. While at Indiana University, Holmes created, wrote and starred in a regular segment for the Emmy Award-winning Public Broadcasting Service kid’s show, “The Friday Zone.” He left PBS in 2003 to write, record and perform full-time, going on to win the National Parenting Publications Award from United Parenting Publications and the Children’s Music Web Awards Best Song in 2004 for his first compact disc, “Martian Television Invasion.”

He’s probably the only kid’s musician who holds a degree in philosophy. But he uses that “brainy” background to write what some have called “silly-sweet” acoustic rock tunes. And he encourages youngsters to be creative through songwriting workshops and contests. In presentations, he interacts directly with audiences, exuding enthusiasm and involving all the children.

“I think the best way to make the world a better place is to create more critical thinkers, people who are willing to question the system,” he says. “Those are the people who become inventors and revolutionaries in their fields.”

T-Rex blends the energy of rock with the sensibility or folk and uses music to weave educational content into topics that are important to children and their parents.  

Winners of this year’s Fun Fair Art Contest will be recognized about 11:30 a.m., with the first place-winners in Grades K through 5 receiving new bicycles and safety helmets (with helmets donated by Gearhead Outfitters). Art entries will be on display at the event and will be related to T-Rex’s mantra – “Read Like a Rock Star!”

The deadline for submitting art entries is 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 14. Additional information on the contest and entry forms can be secured from the St. Bernards Development Foundation website at www.StBernardsFoundation.org or www.stberanrds.info (then click on the foundation on the right side of the page). Entries must be turned in at the Foundation office at 400 East Street.

Kidz Fun Fair is the signature event sponsored annually by the Women’s Advisory Council of the St. Bernards Development Foundation. This year’s gold sponsors include the City of Jonesboro Advertising and Promotions Commission, Merrill Lynch, The Children’s Clinic, Leadership Jonesboro Team C of the Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce and St. Bernards Wound Healing Center.

Silver sponsors are Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield, Fat City Apparel, Junior Auxiliary of Jonesboro, Ocean Dental, Ritter Communications and SHARP office Supply.

Bronze sponsors include HMG, Kohl’s, SHARP Inc., Triple FM, Turner Dairy, Stuck Associates, Sysco and Vision Care Center.