Celebrate the Gulf

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Our last full day on the Gulf Coast, Erika and I participated in the Celebrate the Gulf Festival in Pass Christian, Mississippi.  As we sat in the shade of our borrowed MSU tent, we waited for kids to come by and add their drawings or interviews to the project.  At first, it seemed like our table wouldn't be particularly popular.  We were bypassed by folks headed to the free shrimp samples or hooked by the commanding voice of the woman running the watershed demonstration table (plus she kept saying "COW POOP," which is sure to attract kids.) 

But soon, we found ourselves providing paper and markers to a couple of kids as they created drawings of healing for the Gulf.  And then, a few more kids, and then more!  By the end of the day, our table was a mess ... crayons and colored pencils were strewn everywhere, papers had scattered in the wind.  I had gathered rocks and sticks in a mostly futile attempt to keep things in place.  With each wind gust, parents leapt to hold drawings still as kids finished coloring.

But we embraced it, encouraging kids to not only draw on the paper, but also to add their creativity to our tablecloth -- basically an oversized napkin.  And so at the end of our 5 hours, dozens of kids had created drawings about their wishes for a healthy Gulf of Mexico.  (Nearly 40 of these drawings can be added to the website and future publications.)  A few kids, the youngest seeming to be about 6 years old, also did video interviews to add to the project.  And we had the most colorful table of all!

It was a wonderful way to spend our last day on the Gulf, looking forward to a future that is cleaner, healthier, and filled with lots of FISH!

And because of our glorious tent, we didn't even get too hot, even though temperatures reached 85 degrees.