“Our community is large and wildly diverse, which is at the same time our strength and our weakness. #Activate10 is a movement seeking to increase communication between individuals and organizations across Fremont County and to promote positive action in our communities.”
UPDATED to include additional information about Dr. Jonathan Faubion’s involvement in the Bear Hunt activities
Most children can recite lines from “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt,” a now-classic children’s book by Michael Rosen.
We’re going on a bear hunt.
We’re going to catch a big one.
What a beautiful day!
We’re not scared.
<<Watch Michael Rosen himself perform the actions that go along with the book – your kids might even be able to school you on these!>>
To combat quarantine-induced boredom (and help out all those newly-minted home school teachers), Tomi Kirkland, a Riverton mom launched the Riverton Bear Hunt. At the same time, Riverton Chiropractor Dr. Jonathan Faubion of HealthSource Chiropractic was learning about other bear hunts through contacts with the HealthSource franchise.
Kirkland shared, “I got it off the internet and with Natalie Krusemeier’s help we got it up and running.” Natalie had the idea to put all the addresses on an interactive map.
“We wanted to get the addresses all in one place so we could just get out of the house and do something. Just get out of the house. Maintain our social distancing and just get out of the house.” Kirkland has two kids, ages 7 and 10 at home.
Faubion told County 10 that he “gathered information to begin one in Riverton and felt the Social Distancing Together page [A Fremont County Facebook Page] was the perfect place to host an event and bring a little extra joy to our town. The event has gained a ton of interest from community members and really taken on a life of its own.”
Now everyone is participating, from their vehicles and on walks around neighborhoods. You can find Kirkland and Krusemeier’s interactive map of addresses for the hunt here. It’s easy to plan a route and even add your own address, just click the big “+” button and fill in the blanks.
County 10 lost count at around 80 addresses on the map, in almost every neighborhood in Riverton. There are even a couple of Lander address and Tomi is encouraging all of Fremont County to get involved.
<<Click here to view the Bear Hunt Map>>
Some District #25 teachers heard about the fun and they were excited to participate as well. “They missed the kids so much and a bunch have put bears in their windows too,” Tomi said.
The Bear Hunt is open to any stuffed animal you may have laying around. County 10 heard there’s at least one pink flamingo hanging out in a window. In fact, the only rule seems to be that your stuffed animal must be visible from the street, so that “hunters” can continue to practice social distancing.
“There’s nothing formal to this. Just something to do,” said Tomi.
You can also follow along and post pictures of the fun in a Faubion’s Facebook Event hosted by the Social Distancing Together – Fremont County Facebook Group.