This Year’s ‘Bunny Watch’ Drew A Crowd

By Eliza Hallabeck

&Shannon Hicks

A number of bunnies, complete with painted noses and floppy ear headbands, were pouncing around the area near Glander Field on the Fairfield Hills campus in the afternoon of Friday, April 6, for Bunny Watch 2012.

This is the second year the Bunny Watch has been conducted as a fundraiser for local Odyssey of the Mind teams to attend the national level of the competition.

Last year, a team from the middle school started the program, and this year, with the team members now Newtown High School students, the team again set up bunnies along the walking trails of Mile Hill South, under the guidance of team coach Ann Ziluck. Both the high school team and a fifth grade team from Reed Intermediate School have made it into the national level of the Odyssey of the Mind competition this year. Team members from both schools were working hard Friday and Saturday to raise money to help fund their way to nationals, set to be held in Iowa in May.

Odyssey of the Mind is an international problem-solving, creative thinking, and performing arts program that is offered as an after-school activity. Teams of up to seven students work on solving a long-term problem throughout the school year and practice spontaneous exercises, similar to exercises in Odyssey of the Mind competitions.

The Bunny Watch event is suitable for all ages, and a $5 donation per person included a hayride pulled by an antique tractor while families spotted and tallied bunnies of many shapes and sizes hidden along the 1.5-mile ride, a wagon-side greeting with the Easter Bunny, a bounce house, bunny-face painting and ears, lawn games, Pig Says (the team’s version of Simon Says, with a pink pig leading the fun), and more. The Reed School Odyssey team, called Einstein Monkeys, also oversaw a concession stand on Friday.

Einstein Monkeys team coach Greg Martiska said his team had already overseen a lot of face painting, violin playing, an Easter Egg Hunt, and more by the early afternoon on Friday.

Sienna Cummings, a 10-year-old member of Einstein Monkeys, was offering to play songs on her violin for a $1 donation, and after three hours had raised roughly $25.

After getting her face painted by Einstein Monkeys team parent Paula Martiska, 6-year-old eventgoer Anna Peck said it was her first Bunny Watch and she would want to attend again next year.

“I think it’s really fun,” said Anna’s brother Justin, who waited nearby with his mother as his sister’s face grew a nose, whiskers, and pink cheeks.

By the entrance for the Bunny Watch Hayride, where three antique tractors with drivers waited to pull groups of parents and children along the walking trails, Ms Ziluck was overseeing the sale of tickets early in the afternoon on Friday.

“You count as many bunnies as you can,” she explained to two children about to go on a Bunny Watch Hayride. “Some of them are as big as me, and some of them are really small.”

Participants received an official Bunny Watch Hayride tally sheet, a pencil, and a bracelet with their tickets.

Once on the ride, children tallied off the number of bunnies they saw placed along the path and hidden within tree branches.

Waiting around the bend of one trail, the Easter Bunny himself was on hand to greet the riders. On one ride, children took turns showing off their tally sheets and hugging the Easter Bunny before he waved goodbye.

“We like chocolate,” one parent yelled out as the tractor pulled the group further along the path, with the Easter Bunny disappearing behind them.

After taking his turn on the Bunny Watch Hayride, 8-year-old Leo Palaia said he had counted 150 bunnies.

“It was great,” he said.

Cameras were at the ready all day, as children took turns on the bouncy house slide, like Kevin Mullaney who smiled as he slid down, and positioned their faces within Easter eggs on a wooden stand set up to look like an Easter egg basket.

The proceeds of Bunny Watch 2012 will help send both Einstein Monkeys and the high school team, which does not have a name this year, on to the national competition.

On Saturday, March 31, 17 teams from Newtown competed in the state level of the Odyssey of the Mind program. To read more about the state level of the competition see the related story in this week’s Newtown Bee.

Following the Bunny Watch event, Ms Ziluck said the high school team raised enough money to cover the cost for lodging, meals, and competition fees. The team still has $1,800 to raise, and Ms Ziluck said another fundraising event will most likely be scheduled before the two Newtown teams head to Iowa next month.

Through the efforts of Einstein Monkeys team members, the fifth grade team raised enough money from the Friday and Saturday event to help cover the cost of two teammates heading to the World Finals competition, according to Ms Ziluck.

“So many people have helped us reach this goal,” said Ms Ziluck, listing many people who helped the teams organize, set up, and run the Bunny Watch.

The total number of bunnies hidden along the trail was 109, said Ms Ziluck, and a few bunny spotters came close by tallying up 106.