Letter to the Editor

Egg-citing night out for community teens

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

To the editor:

Thanks to all the "good eggs" that helped make EggFest'2011 nighttime egg hunt for teens, an egg-ceptionally successful event.

Months of planning by the "good egg" partners, Friends of the Park Association of Putnam County, the Greencastle Park and Recreation and VOICE-Indiana Youth Speaking out Against Teen Tobacco Use- was rewarded by watching nearly 400 teens attend the seventh annual event. Hunting eggs, with a flash light in the park after dark, might sound silly to some by not to our "good egg" corporate sponsors- Putnam County Tobacco Prevention & Cessation, Matthew Welker Allstate Insurance, Kroger, No. 4388 Fraternal Order of Eagles, Peebles and WGRE 91.5 who so willingly jumped on board with their sponsorships to help provide the music, food and fun for the local teens. Thanks also goes to Avery Robinson, Greencastle High School sophomore student, and designer of the EggFest website, www.eggfest.org, for listing all the "good eggs" on the website.

Not just 7,000 candy stuffed eggs, but the possibility finding a "Golden Egg" or one of the more than a 1000 other prizes donated by nearly 130 local and national companies enticed most of the teen participants to scramble to Robe Ann Park to attend Saturday night's egg hunting egg-travaganza. Beside music, food and prized stuffed eggs, Friends of the Park reached out to nearly 400 teens at this year's EggFest event to provide two teen related messages.

Having the EggFest as a "smoke-free event" provides our community teens with a clear understanding that you can still have fun without the use of tobacco products; and texting while driving is one of the most dangerous distractions facing teen drivers today.

The mission of the Friends of Park Association of Putnam County, Inc. is to provide healthy recreation and to promote the enjoyment of our community parks and pathways for all of Putnam County. If you are someone that understands that community parks, recreation, and programming are irreplaceable assets for all who live in Putnam County, please consider becoming a member of Friends of the Park.

EggFest'2011 Committee,

Jan Firebaugh, Member

Friends of the Park Association of Putnam Co.

Greencastle Parks and Recreation