PRESQUE ISLE, Maine (WAGM) – Elementary school educators in Houlton are sharing fun and educational potato harvest-like traditions with their students. NewsSource 8 reporter Janelle Lopez explains.
Spudtacular is an event at the Houlton Elementary School to learn and enjoy various activities surrounding the harvest season of potatoes.
“Spudtacular day is a fun day for children to learn all about potatoes and the potato industry. Potatoes are an important part of our local economy and the way of life here in the county. Explaining how it used to be to the children is a really fun and exciting, it’s a fun and exciting day for us to share together, share memories and explain things that they don’t have any idea about. Like picking potatoes, that’s something that we used to do in the past that’s long gone.” says Houlton Elementary 2nd grade teacher Lauren Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick says the Spudtacular events allow for the children to learn some new vocabulary that they typically wouldn’t have a chance to touch upon.
“The games that we play here at school are wonderful for team building and at the same time we’re giving them the knowledge of the history of the potato industry.” says Fitzpatrick.
Events during their Spudtacular day include potato printing with art, barrel rolling, picking potatoes, music and pass the hot potato, potato bingo, and general history lessons about what potato picking used to be like.
“I have a potato farm at my house and we can pick apples. We just had the potato rolling contest, and now we’re having the potato sack contest, and then the one over there, you put a potato on a spoon and then you run down, if it falls off you have to start all over again.” says Fitzpatrick.
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Students also sampled the crop staple in warm potato soup.
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