NK gearing up for 12th-annual Spirit Day

March 24, 2012

By LINDSAY OLIVIER
lolivier@ricentral.com

NORTH KINGSTOWN - Saturday will mark the 12th anniversary of Spirit Day, a fun filled day celebrating the North Kingstown community.
All festivities will be held at North Kingstown High School from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Spirit Day is a mix of community health-related, social, civic and business entities and entertainment. Admission is free, but attendees are asked to bring a non-perishable food item for the North Kingstown Food Pantry.
This year will feature Sparky’s Puppets performing “The Country Mouse and the City Mouse” from Aesop’s fables in the cafeteria from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Kim Bent, of PBS’s Catch the Science Bug will entertain kids with her hands-on, interactive scientific demonstrations at the Environmental Fair.
Oreo, a friendly brown pony, will be giving rides outside, weather permitting.
Home Depot will have a large area to entertain kids with their Kid’s Workshop in Gym 1.
Ron Sargent, the Balloon Animal Man, will again be circulating, enchanting kids with his deft animal depictions.
The Greater Providence YMCA bounce house will be outside, weather permitting, and a concert by the Lafayette Band, dancing and karate will all take place in the school auditorium.
The following are a list of new exhibits for this year’s Spirit Day: URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography’s Narragansett Bay classroom; Greater Providence YMCA’s Healthy Places by Design; a Complete Streets exhibit; Planet Fitness; Caldwell & Johnson-green builders; Home Depot’s interactive Kid’s Workshop; General Dynamic’s Electric Boat; the URI contingent including the Master Gardner’s, Master Composters and learning Landscape Association, South County Orthopedics, Coldwell Banker, the North Kingstown Community Chorus, Critter Hut, WellOne, a new Toyota from Tarbox Motors, plus Office Recycling Solutions-the first North Kingstown paper shredding opportunity in the school parking lot.
Among the returning exhibits are the South County Hospital Medical & Wellness Center; West Bay YMCA; N.K. Rotary Club’s free bike raffle; Rhode Island Blood Center’s mobile unit; Big Sisters, Big Brother of the Ocean State and the Wickford Sailing Association’s boat display.
Attendees will also be able to vote for the winner of the “We Are Proud of You” award, which is now in its fourth year. The nominees include: Friends of the North Kingstown Animal Shelter, Girl Scouts of N.K. and Jamestown, Home Depot, Horse Play, Little Dresses for Africa, Mandy Crow, N.K. Rotary Club, R.I. Blood Center, Slocum Grange and WellOne.
The winner will be presented a plaque by the North Kingstown Town Council later on in the year. Past winners include Bonnie Smith, director of the North Kingstown Food Pantry; Patrick Gannon who advocated eating cereal for dinner once a week and donating the money saved to the poor and Toray Plastics of America for its installation of 1,650 solar panels at its Quonset facility.