Kids getting stir-crazy? Get them out for a walk. That's what Robin Taylor thought, and she did it for lots of them

Robin Taylor poses with her husband Liles and their children, Jolee and Bennett. (Photo by Katie Vandegrift)

By Katie Vandegrift
Special to the Midway Messenger

Late Monday night, Robin Taylor had an idea. After learning about an event being planned in neighboring Georgetown, where she works for the Scott County schools, Taylor began quickly putting together an idea that proved welcomed and successful in the Midway community.

The niece and nephew of a Midway resident enjoyed
the Stroll while their mother, a health-care worker,
was on duty. (Photo by Chrystal Thompson)

The event would have a St. Patrick’s Day theme, encouraging parents and children to walk around town looking for previously placed shamrocks. Amid the covid-19 outbreak, she felt this would be a way to give citizens a good excuse to get out and enjoy some fresh air and a walk, all while entertaining the community’s children while schools are closed.

On Tuesday morning, she and her husband Liles, who is a magistrate on the Woodford County Fiscal Court, quickly organized by crafting various shamrocks and gathering a few volunteers to help place them around town. Homeowners put them up in their windows, business displayed them from their storefronts, and volunteers placed them in various other locations for the young shamrock detectives to go out looking.

And, despite the late notice, dozens of families got out to participate, with many other walkers enjoying the event, which still practiced social distancing on a day that turned out nice: temperatures in the mid-50s with the sun finally fighting through the clouds by the time the event started at 4 p.m.

Melinda Caldwell and Scout, two of the many volunteers who

displayed shamrocks outdoors for kids to spot. (selfie photo)

Robin Taylor, clearly worn out from a day of planning and organizing an event she cooked up not 24 hours before, was already asleep by the time this was written Tuesday night, but her husband Liles gave part of the reasoning for the Shamrock Sighting Stroll: “Our kids haven’t left the house since Friday after school, so they’ve been getting a little stir-crazy. When Robin saw something similar happening in a Georgetown neighborhood, she suggested she try it. When I came up with the name, she decided to float the idea this morning on our neighborhood Facebook group to see if there would be any interest. We just went from there.”

Photos posted to Facebook by various families showed the fun that was had, particularly by the kids, with one resident sounding especially thankful: “Thank you to everyone in our neighborhood and community. . . . My niece and nephew are here from out of town; their mom is a health-care worker, and a single mom at that. They are young and confused over all of this. Being able to get them outside and moving made their day and they had lots of fun. They found 112 shamrocks.”

They found some normalcy, too.

Katie Vandegrift is administrative and marketing manager for economic development at Commerce Lexington and the wife of Midway Mayor Grayson Vandegrift. The Messenger thanks her for writing this story, and invites more journalism from citizens. We like to say that every American has the First Amendment right to commit journalism, and we aim to help Midwegians do it.