A child’s delight! Giant storybook pages at child height entice youngsters accompanied by adults to continue the trail to the next sign and the next, all the way around the ½ mile hilly, wooded trail.
Party! June 1 will not only be the observance of National Trails Day at Edgar Evins State Park, it will be the 2nd Annual Ribbon Cutting Party for the Storybook Trail. Children accompanied by adults will be welcome to attend the party, beginning at 10 A.M. and ending at approximately 1:30 P.M. at the Interpretive Center, near the cabins. There will be party favors, face painting, crafts making for children, refreshments, guided and unguided hikes and much more. At 11:30 A.M. Bob Tarter of Animology (formerly called NHECM) will show a variety of wild animals.
Public library systems in four counties adjoining the park (Smith, DeKalb, Putnam, and Cannon), and the Cookeville Childrens Museum, will provide crafts for children to make. In addition, Smithville Girl Scout Troop 3094 will assist children wishing to make construction paper animals.
Amanda Bain, Director of Smith County Library Systems and Susie Gilbreath, represented the library at Carthage by providing a bubble machine and crafts for the kids. The library will be represented again this year.
Last year the trail was opened with the first book, Where Butterflies Grow. This year the book will be Anybody Home?, by Marianne Berkes, illustrated by Rebecca Dickinson, with permission of Arbordale Publishing. It is a story of Polly Possum, an expectant mother, looking for the perfect home for herself and her babies. She visits several other animals in the woods before finally finding the one home that is just right.
The storybook trail encourages youngsters to practice reading skills while enjoying the outdoors. The pages from the book are enlarged and reproduced on a durable material that is framed and mounted at child height at approximately 60 yard intervals along the ½ mile hilly, wooded trail.
Lunch will be served about 12:30 P.M., consisting of hot dogs, chips, cake, lemonade and possibly soft serve ice cream. Everything will be free unless purchased from the portable gift shop featuring copies of the book, or from commercial vendors.
Lynn Brown, Brush Creek, and her son, Wyatt Brown, pose at the trail head sign for the 2018 Ribbon Cutting event.
This is a project of Friends of Edgar Evins State Park with the assistance of park personnel. Partial funding has been received from grants provided by Tennessee Trails Association and Friends of Tennessee State Parks. The storybook trail concept is part of the Governor’s Books From Birth program. For additional information and pictures from last year you may visit our website at www.foeesp.com The Friends of Edgar Evins State Park is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to helping the park. Information about joining is also on the website. You may also find us on Facebook. Park office phone: (931) 646-3080 or toll free at 1-800-250-8619.
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