Creek Week conclude: Learning about water through activities, storytime – Salisbury Post
Creek Week conclude: Learning about water through activities, storytime
Published 12:09 am Tuesday, September 24, 2024
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SALISBURY — A four-part Rowan Creek Week event, aimed at teaching children, kindergarten through fifth graders, about water, was held last week at the Rowan Public Library Headquarters.
Seven children gathered for this event, which began with a time of yoga led by library assistant Duane Deberry. After getting their mats, he shared several rules of yoga – smiles and most importantly he said, “don’t forget to breathe.”
After running them through the different poses, Deberry congratulated them for being willing to try and open to learning.
The group then moved to the storytime room where they listened to Amanda Decker read the book, “Water Princess,” written by fashion model Georgie Badiel. The book, Decker said, is a true story of Badeil’s childhood and her having to walk hours to get water with the other women in her family. The book shares her dream of bringing clean drinking water to her African village.
She grew up and became a model and writer and has established an organization which tackles the issue of having clean water in her West African homeland.
Decker asked questions throughout the reading, challenging them to think about ideas presented in the book and explained that there are also areas in the United States that do not have good clean water and posed the question of what could be done to have good water.
The group then moved where stations were set up for a hands-on activity teaching them how to clean up water. They were given bins and various tools to choose from and instructed to clean trash out of the bins, which were filled with water and items such as paper, dirt, bags and other plastic items and instructed to make the water as clean as possible in a five minute time limit.
When time was called, Decker and Amanda Brill, the young adult librarian, who was assisting in this portion of the program, checked to see who had the most water left in their bins and who had the cleanest water.
The last portion of the event, also centering on the theme of water for Creek Week, was a watercolor art project.
Each was given a piece of aluminum foil where they placed drops of the watercolor paint using whatever colors and in whatever design they wished. They were then given a piece of white paper to place on top and transfer that design onto the paper with each creating their own unique piece of water art, which concluded this Creek Week experience.
Creek Week culminates in Spencer
The culmination of the sixth annual Creek Week was hosted by the town of Spencer, with much of the finale taking place at the Wil-Cox Bridge/Yadkin River Park.
The town has been working on the Rowan County side of the park with the initial phase, including parking, bike racks and tools and gathering space completed with much more to come. The Race to the Lake was held slightly earlier this year and Town Manager Peter Franzese said there were more participants this year.
He noted that he had hoped for more participation, but thinks people had so many choices on Saturday it made it difficult. It was also humid, which made it feel warm after a week of cooler temperatures.
“But we’re pleased with the number of people that came out to celebrate,” he said.
There were food trucks from local restaurants including Queso Salsa, Luna Pizza, Kona Ice, New Sarum Brewing and Old 97 Kettlecorn.
The day begin with a medication take-back at city hall from 8-9:30 a.m., followed by the footrace, a Fun Run across the Wil-Cox Bridge and bike rides. There was also the annual cleanup, and five-year-old Dean Cool went along with his parents, Joshua and Jenna, in the boat for the collection of trash.
“We did have to remind him not to lean over quite so far,” said Jenna, laughing, “He would lean out and say ‘there’s some trash!’”
Joshua is the Stanback Ecological Preserve keeper at Catawba College and has participated in the cleanup in years past.
Dean, visiting with Delilah Hatheway of Happy Roots at the finale Saturday, is invested in taking care of the earth, exploring the plants and information on growing gardens at the tent. His parents were happy to share that he’d spent quite a lot of time explaining to them the night before the importance of caring for the earth.
“You have to take care of the earth or it will be a sad rock,” he said in a video his dad recorded. Dean and Hatheway talked about planting vegetables that he likes, and how to make them grow.
The event was a moment of hometown pride for residents and business owners Coleman Wilson and his mother, Laurie Deal-Wilson, who own Old 97 Kettlecorn.
“I think it’s fantastic to see the way the community has come together to take care of the waterfront again, and the way the two counties, Rowan and Davidson, have begun to work together.”
“I am excited we are not letting this part of Rowan County and Spencer go unused,” added Deal-Wilson, who grew up in Spencer and is beyond pleased to see history retained. “This area was bustling with life when the Finishing Company was here. There were houses and churches and shops, and I’m so happy to see we are bringing life back to this area.”
The day ended with a peaceful sunset paddle on the river with Row Co River Adventures from the York Hill boat launch. You could rent a kayak or bring your own to close the week’s adventures as the sun set on the Yadkin.
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