The event, produced by the Snellville Arts Commission, invites young readers to take an interactive tour of the space around City Hall, guided by statues of “critters” including a bear, dog and a trio of frogs.
The statues, which will be a permanent fixture on City Hall grounds, will correspond with poems found on the Critter Crawl web page – http://www.snellvillearts.com/CritterCrawl.html. There is also audio of the poems being read aloud on the page and print outs of the poems will be made available at City Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Fridays.
The statues were bought from a variety of sources including Amazon.com and a local antique shop.
“We hope it’s a real fun thing for families to come and follow the paths and have a good hour-long outing at City Hall,” said SAC Chairman Kirk Buis, who wrote the poems outlining the critter adventure.
The 2014 founder sponsors are the Snellville Downtown Development Authority, Snellville Tourism and Trade, Mayor Kelly Kautz and councilmembers Bobby Howard, Diane Krause and Tom Witts. Jean Baldwin drew the pictures for the web page.
The idea was inspired by Krause’s visit to Greenville, S.C. where they have a similar project called “Mice on Main.” Krause said it would be nice to see children come to City Hall and take part in an event that promotes literacy and maybe even government.
“Our arts commission is full of spirited commissioners and volunteers ready to expand the arts throughout Snellville,” Krause said. “I felt something similar to Greenville’s scavenger hunt would bring children and young people to our City Hall. While enjoying the whimsical critters, those walking the Critter Crawl just might peek inside City Hall and learn about their government as well!”
This is the latest project from SAC which is also planning on painting a mural on Highway 78 and putting on a wine tasting fundraiser at 6:30 p.m., April 25 at Niko’s Wine Corner, 2118 Scenic Highway in the Snellville Village shopping center.
