Here's Mud in your eye

Impatiently sitting in folding chairs, the first round of children had their shoes duct taped to their feet. Teenage volunteers wanted to make sure that the wet mud that would soon cover the children didn’t get into their shoes.

Twin Lakes Recreational Area hosted the eighth annual Mudstock, a free, all ages, mud obstacle course Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. The police department was on hand if anything happened and the water was provided by the Columbia Fire Department.

“I think it was cute how they duct taped their shoes on so they don’t lose them in the mud,” firefighter Brenda McGruder said.

Over the course of the afternoon, eight to nine thousand gallons of water were used, according to Fire Engineer George Gregory. Taking up the majority of one of the fields at Twin Lakes, the course began when a participant swung on a rope over a pit of muddy water, slithered under four low-hanging strings, trudged around a muddy bend, climbed up a mud hill and ended by sliding down the hill into a mud-filled ditch.

Adam Gadoise, an 8-year-old boy and second-year participant, made his grandfather promise to come this year after the fun he had last year.

“I was in the army 21 years and we used to do this a lot, without the mud,” said Bill Malone, Adam’s grandfather. He was soaked with the muddy water the two had raced through.

Coordinator Steve Evers said that he saw a lot of the same families coming back, year after year. “It’s kind of a tradition,” he said, “to kickoff the summer.”

Mudstock included fun for all ages with “puddle jumpers,” two small sections of earth dug out and filled with water for toddlers and small children and mud art, a section off to the side of the course with painting supplies.

Grandmother Shirley McClary watched on as her grandson, 17-month old Tyson, sat and played in the one of the puddles.

“It all seems wrong that they’re in it for a purpose,” she said, “but it’s fun today.”

Tyson McClary was joined by 1-year-old Logan Sumner.

“It’s neat for them to come and do this,” Sumner’s father, Jason, said. “Plus, they are being safe with the police and fire department.”

“They look like they were at Woodstock, they are so dirty,” Park Ranger Eileen Olson said.

“It gets the people out into the community,” Olson said. “So many people are utilizing the park because of this event, plus the kids really, really love it,” she said.

Parents stood all around the outside of the course, watching, taking pictures, and encouraging their children as they went through the mud. Sometimes entire families would engage in the course and come out laughing, covered in mud.

One was the Peters family who has been bringing their children to Mudstock since it began.

“It’s completely different than something else we offer,” Evers said as he surveyed the course.

Volunteer Anna Guthrie, 13, helped man certain stations around the course to help with younger children.

“You don’t have to worry how you look in front of other people,” Guthrie said.