Kid’s Day & Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest August 16, 2008

Wildlife Prairie State Park (WPSP) continues to celebrate its 30th Anniversary Season with Kid’s Day on August 16, 2008 from 9:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Admission for Kid’s 12 and under is FREE.

In conjunction with the day’s festivities, WPSP has been selected as one of nine regional Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest sites.

KID’S DAY ACTIVITIES & PARTICIPANTS INCLUDE:
•Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker ContestSM – details below
•American Red Cross Bicycle Rodeo
•Peoria Police Department & DARE – fingerprinting kits
•Limestone Fire Department – fire truck & equipment
•Caterpillar Inc. – compact excavator
•Peoria Chiefs mascot – Homer
•Academy of Okinawan Karate demonstrations
•Face painting
•M & K Inflatables
•Miniature golf
•Train rides, special treats & more

ODOR-EATERS ROTTEN SNEAKER CONTEST:
Kids ages 5 to 15 are invited to wear their rottenest sneakers to WPSP. From 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., participants are encouraged to enter the contest. The top 35 contestants will move into the final competition. At 1:00 p.m., five “celebrity” judges will utilize a strict set of guidelines to select one Golden Sneaker Award winner. The winner will receive $200 in cash, the Golden Sneaker Award, a certificate and a basket of Odor-Eaters® products; plus the winner and one parent will be flown to Montpelier, VT, in March 2009, all expenses paid to compete at the National Odor-Eaters Rotten Sneaker Contest with winners from across the country. Winners will stay at The Top Notch Resort in Stowe, VT (www.topnotchresort.com). The winner of the national contest will win an all expense paid trip to New York City.

Judging criteria:

ODOR. Can you smell these sneakers 10 feet away? 15? At 20 they’re a shoe-in for a chance to be enshrined in the Odor Eaters Hall of Fumes in Montpelier, VT.

SOLES. Less is more. Lost soles and humongous holes can count for a big win in the category.

LACES. Frayed Laces are good. Torn and repeatedly knotted ones are better.

GROMMETS. One of the most difficult categories to judge, “grommet degeneration” requires a keen eye for dangling eyelets and grisly gouges.

TOES. True contenders sport gaping holes that announce “Jaws move over”.

HEELS. How low can they go?

TONGUES. “Tongue fatigue” is a popular category because it can be judged from a distance. The best tongues are torn and droop forlornly, lending a pathetic appearance that is a true crowd pleaser.

OVERALL CONDITION. Is it a run-of-the-mill battered sneaker, or has adverse conditioning made it truly rotten and ferocious? This is the most subjective category. Judges may want to use as a reference point from a 4-H club in Texas. “He wore his sneakers in the pig pen every day until the pig wouldn’t bite them.”

Admission on Kid’s Day is $5.50 for ages 13 and up, kids 12 and under are free and as always members are free.

Established in 1978, Wildlife Prairie State Park is a 2,000 acre zoological park that is home to animals indigenous to Illinois including: wolves, bison, waterfowl, black bears, elk, cougars, otters and more. Visitors enjoy spectacular natural surroundings, unique lodging & meeting space, fishing and a Pioneer Farmstead.

Official Website: http://www.wildlifeprairiestatepark.org