Coshocton County hosts annual track and field day

The 32nd annual Coshocton County Board of Developmental Disabilities Track and Field Day for special education classroom children and Hopewell preschoolers took place March 26 at Kids America.

Director of Recreation Toby Collins said, "Today, March 26, is Student Day, and on March 24 we had the Adult Day. Between the two days, we have a total of about 440 people this year with students and adults combined — one of the biggest we have ever had.”

The day included the parade of athletes and scheduled activities such as track events, football, soccer and time in bounce houses.

“Court two always has extra activities if they need some down time, or if they just want to go and try a different activity, they can go in there and choose whatever they want to do,” Collins said. “We serve lunch for everyone. Usually, it's pizza, thanks to Domino’s, and chips, cookies and a drink. There are scheduled lunches. Then they do whatever activities that come next.”

A lot of volunteers make the event possible.

“Everyone in a green T-shirt is a volunteer,” Collins said. “We have the Coshocton Glee Club, River View National Honor Society, Kiwanis helps us with setup in the early morning, and we also have the Junior Women's Club helping as well. A lot of my athlete leaders help. Parents Sue and Bill Balentine always help. So it takes a lot to put it all on. We are very grateful for that and Kids America for allowing us to use the whole facility every year to be able to accommodate everything that we have going on.”