As the worm turns
Turn a group of grade school kids loose for an afternoon and they are bound to have fun. Throw in a race with woolly worms, and you’ve got yourself quite a little hootenanny.The kids at Charm Elementary had a grand time preparing for and participating in the annual woolly worm race held during Charm Days, in which their handpicked entries crawl up a taut string to the finish line — a space of about two feet — while classmates, parents, friends and neighbors cheer them on.
This year’s championship blue ribbon went to Bryan Yoder, who offered this advice to anyone who wants to get a leg up on the competition next year: “Just keep blowing and blowing,” said Yoder.
Maybe it helps to have the proper lineage. Perhaps a solid woolly worm performer is much like that of a horse, in which the sire and dam make all the difference. That may have been the case, since Yoder’s worm, Super Speedy Pants, became a multiple winner this year, also winning the teacher’s race for Charm teacher Austin Kaufman.
Super Speedy Pants must have been working hard on stomach crunches or distance running to put forth such an effort to continually fend off competitors like Sticky, Let’s Go, Chilly Willy, Butterfly and Slider.
“I guess you have to put your ego on hold for a little while to come up and do this,” said Kaufman, with a laugh. “The kids absolutely love this day, and they are so excited when they get to school on race day. Even though they are pretty wound up, once they get settled in, we actually get some learning done in the morning. That’s a real credit to the kids we have here. They’re great kids. But the closer it gets to show time in the afternoon, the more wound up they get.”
This year, many of the kids chose to add coffee grounds to their containers of grass for their woolly worms to reside in as they awaited their turn to hit the string running, apparently in hopes that the caffeine would invigorate the worms. “Maybe they should invent a way to pump Mountain Dew into the worms,” kidded one spectator.
According to Ed Raber, a member of the Share and Care fund committee, the woolly worm race is one of the most popular events for the two-day Charm Days celebration.
It may have become so due to Raber’s desire to create something special for the weekend.
“One year, we decided we wanted to do something different that would bring people together,” Raber said. “I was up to Vermilion and Dick Goddard had a woolly worm race, so I thought we’d try it out here. We got the principal to talk to the kids about it, and they were all over it. One thing we do differently than they do up north is we have our worms race up a string, while they use a board. On a board, they zigzag all over the place and it takes too long. I learned a lot there though. I guess when you learn about woolly worm racing from Dick Goddard, you learn from the best.”
The woolly worms race up a vertical strand of thread about three feet high. To move the woolly worm along, the children can clap, blow, or talk but cannot touch the worm or the string. The worms seem to do better in warm weather, and weekend temperatures in the high 70s led to some very speedy worms. The markings on the worms help forecast the severity of winter as well, according to Raber.
Several years ago, they introduced the teachers to the fun of woolly worm racing, and later they asked the area merchants if they would join in on the escapade.
“We were afraid the adults wouldn’t do it, but they have had a blast, just like the kids,” said Raber.
As did everyone else who was on hand to enjoy the event.
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While rain washed away the inaugural Charm Days Cornhole Tournament, it didn’t put the kibosh on the event, designed as a fundraiser for Keim Lumber’s Relay for Life team. It has been rescheduled for Friday evening, Oct. 30, on the second floor of Keim Lumber.
“We’re not going to get rained out a second time since it’s now indoors,” said Relay for Life team captain, Jesse Weaver.