St. Patty's Day Clover Fest Brings Fun to Colton Kids

Last Tuesday, March 17 was St. Patrick’s Day, and the Gonzales Community center was ready with special activities in honor of the holiday. The center held a Clover Fest celebration for children, ages 6 through 12, to come and take part in themed activities. The fest is part of a program called Drop-in Recreation, where children are invited to visit the center Monday through Friday between the hours of 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. to play and participate in fun after-school activities. On this particular day, activities included coloring your own leprechaun, playing games like “swipe the pot of gold,” and at the end of the afternoon, kids had a chance to create their own “shamrock shake.” The students began the early afternoon by coloring and building a paper leprechaun dolls in a classroom decorated with rainbows and clovers. They interacted and gave each other feedback on their creations. Those who were done coloring had the option of playing with the pool table, the foosball table, or any of the other board games made available to them. Many students, like Jessica Espinoza, are regulars to drop-in recreation. Espinoza shared that she comes to the events because “it’s fun… we get to color, and use the pool table, and do crafts!” In addition to the activities, many come to interact with the other kids, as Samantha Wiless explained. “I ask my mom to bring me (to drop-in recreation) because I have friends here,” she said. After everyone finished their creation, attendees were given a snack to make sure they had enough energy to take on the rest of the afternoons activities. These types of programs are funded by the state of California and because of this, the recreation is able to give out free snacks to the children. In honor of the holiday the recreation facilitated a game called Swipe the Pot of Gold. Recreation coordinators split up attendees into two teams, and assigned them all numbers. The facilitator then called out a number and the objective of the game was a race to “swipe the pot of gold.” Along with this game, students also played a game in which one student was the leprechaun and the rest sat in a circle passing the “pot-o-gold” around until the “leprechaun” figured out who swiped their “pot-o-gold.” The Clover Fest event concluded with the much anticipated creation of a shamrock shakes. The kids were excited to add their own toppings to the green-colored vanilla ice cream. Many added mint-cookies and sprinkles, while others were just excited to dig in.