Costumed teams of Butler University students will blow off end-of-semester steam by racing customized baby cribs on Hampton Drive Saturday, April 25.
Free and open to the public, the first-time Crib Race is co-sponsored by Kappa Delta Pi International Educational Honor Society, the College of Education Student Education Association and the Day Nursery Association of Indianapolis.
Activities start at 10:30 a.m. in front of Schwitzer Residence Hall, 750 W. Hampton Drive, with a parade of participants to determine the “Most Beautiful Baby” (crib rider) and best-dressed race team.
Contenders will then compete in heat races of two teams each. Four student runners will push each crib, with a fifth student riding inside. The 5-foot-high stainless steel beds, weighing approximately 175 pounds each, were donated for the race by Clarian Health Partners.
Day Nursery staffers retrofitted the cribs with larger rubber tires for better stability during the competition.
The race celebrates the 110th anniversary of the Day Nursery Association and caps off the National Week of the Young Child observance
“Seeing today’s university students race in baby cribs seemed a fun way to reflect on how far Day Nursery has come in its more than a century of offering quality child care in Indianapolis,” said Day Nursery Executive Director Carolyn Dederer. Indiana’s oldest child care provider, Day Nursery Association is one of the few non-profit child care agencies in the metropolitan area.
“The Crib Race also points to the long association between Day Nursery and Butler University’s College of Education. We both strongly champion the benefit of early childhood education, and COE has helped educate many of our graduates and our current teachers,” Dederer said.
KDP president Ruthie Leeth said teams will earn points toward championship trophies by collecting new and gently used children’s books for Day Nursery’s seven sites. Books will be counted prior to the race. Spectators can drop off children’s books in a public collection box on race day.
Jennifer Eakins, who attended Day Nursery as a preschooler and is now a 500 Festival Princess, will serve as one of the race judges, along with three Day Nursery Auxiliary volunteers.
For more information on the Butler Crib Race, call Cindy Smith, (317) 940-8464. to learn more about Day Nursery Association of Indianapolis, call (317) 636-9197 or visit www.daynursery.org.
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