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“It evolved into us doing games and things like that, and we’ve ran it continuously for the past 68 years,” said Larry Sewell, the Ohio and West Virginia Division Director of the Exchange Club and member of the Springfield Club.
Today the club hosts several contests for the youth at the Clark County Fair to compete in.
The events included 50- and 75-yard dashes, sack races, egg races and egg throwing. Each race winner received a cash prize, and the club also did periodic raffles throughout the day, culminating in a grand prize at the end of the event. The final contest of the day was an egg-throwing contest for the moms and dads in the grandstands.
“The games combine a lot of things,” said Sewell. “Yes, it’s fun, that’s the main effort, for the kids to have fun. But it’s also about competition and just trying yourself out against someone else and being rewarded for it.
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In past years the event has seen attendance between 300 and 500 people, depending on the weather.
“We just hark back to the days when kids are kids. And they just love it, because kids just don’t do that anymore,” Sewell said. “They just don’t play like they used to.”
Jocelyn Jourrell, 9, of Springfield, placed first in her heat in the 25-yard sack race for girls younger than 10. She planned to take her $5 winnings and visit the bouncy house.
“It was pretty fun,” Jourrell said.
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