Children wowed at celebration in Springfield.Byline: Jim Feehan The Register-Guard SPRINGFIELD - Tom Yahner had a commanding view of the Springfield Children's Celebration Saturday. With his 4-foot stilts This article is about the poles. For the type of bird, see stilt. For other uses, see Stilts (disambiguation). Stilts are poles, posts or pillars used to allow a person or structure to stand at a certain distance above the ground. , he stood nearly 10 feet tall, which is mighty tall - even for adults. Yahner was so gargantuan gar·gan·tu·an adj. Of immense size, volume, or capacity; gigantic. See Synonyms at enormous. gargantuan Adjective huge or enormous [after Gargantua, a giant in Rabelais' , in fact, that he was able to straddle In the stock and commodity markets, a strategy in options contracts consisting of an equal number of put options and call options on the same underlying share, index, or commodity future. a line of children and walk over their heads with his peg legs hidden under tie-dyed pant pant v. To breathe rapidly and shallowly. legs. A chorus of kids shouted "cool" and "that's awesome." Quinten Paton, 4, of Cottage Grove Cottage Grove, village (1990 pop. 22,935), Washington co., SE Minn., near the St. Croix River; inc. 1965. There is farming (cattle, sheep, corn, and soybeans) and manufacturing (chemicals and machinery). was impressed. "That was nice," he said. Quinten's mom, Victoria Paton, liked Yahner's fashion sense. "I used to have a shirt like that," she said referring to the Yahner's multicolor pants. A former elementary school teacher in upstate New York Upstate New York is the region of New York State north of the core of the New York metropolitan area. It has a population of 7,121,911 out of New York State's total 18,976,457. Were it an independent state, it would be ranked 13th by population. , Yahner moved to Oregon about 10 years ago and took up stilt stilt, common name for some members of the family Recurvirostridae, shore birds including the avocet. Stilts, as their name implies, have the longest legs of any bird except the flamingo. walking and juggling. He does 150 shows per year throughout the Northwest. Yahner, who lives in Springfield, said it took him about 45 minutes to master walking on stilts. "I get a lot of joy out of performing for kids," he said. Yahner, who goes by the stage name Tom Question, was joined by a handful of clowns, face painters, balloon artists and musical performers at the 11th annual Children's Celebration held at Springfield's Island Park. The event was sponsored by the Willamalane Park and Recreation District. The park was transformed into a one-stop small amusement center with clowns, jugglers, pony rides and a petting zoo. Zany Zoo Pets of Eugene displayed two boa constrictors, a ferret, some nasty-looking cockroaches cockroaches insects which may carry Salmonella spp. in their gut and play a part in the spread of the disease. , along with some other animals. Buddy, a 4-foot red-tailed boa constrictor, was a big hit with the kids, some who dared to hold or pet the reptile. Some fearless tykes even planted kisses on the snake's skin. "It feels like rubber to me," said 6-year-old Karli Hall of Springfield. Juli Pardovich, who works for Zany Zoo Pets, said boas make good pets. "Kids usually show no fear around the snake," she said. `Children who have intense fear at first usually come around and by the end of the day they're holding the boa." Next to the petting zoo, Lollipop the Clown was forming balloon-shaped cats, swans and rabbits. "That is so cool," Amanda Rice, 6, of Beaverton, said as Lollipop handed her a balloon-shaped swan. About 5,000 attended the event, organizer Jennifer Holland said. |
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