Mowers 'Race for Sight' on Saturday

Jerry Nichols

Special to The TIMES

The Race for Sight, the sixth annual summer Lawnmower Races sponsored by the Pea Ridge Lions Club will begin at 6 p.m. Saturday, July 23. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. The race will be held on the Bill Patterson farm, 8377 Lee Town Road.

The Lawnmower Races, which were introduced to the community by the Lions Club in 2011, feature several classes of modified riding lawnmowers, usually involving modified engines and transmissions to increase their speed and to improve handling.

Admission is $5 per person. Concessions will be available, with plenty of food provided by Darla Nix's Cannonball Cafe. In addition to the Lawnmower Races, several activities will be available for kids, including a bouncy house and their own kid's powerwheel race. Families and children

are encouraged to bring their own battery-powered units to race in the powerwheel race.

The Lawnmower Races are a fundraising project for the local Lions Club, with proceeds devoted to community service projects sponsored by the club, including assistance with eye exams and eyeglasses, assistance with other eye-health needs, family emergency aid, the Leader Dogs for the Blind Program, Camps for the Blind, local 4-H Club support, along with other evolving community service projects.

As a result of the success of previous fundraisers such as the Lawnmower Races, and with grant help from Lions Club's International and the Lions of Arkansas Foundation, the Pea Ridge Lions Club was recently able to purchase a high-tech Vision Analyzer which is very useful in scanning for vision problems among groups such as school classes, day care programs, and others. Children's eye problems discovered with the scanner are referred to eye care professionals for further care and corrective measures. Quite often, early detection results in saving children's eyesight, prevents the worsening of eye disease, and helps avoid deterioration of visual acuity.

Those who want to enter a racer in the Lawnmower Races are encouraged to contact Lion Melissa Tjarks at the AOK Insurance office in Pea Ridge at 479-644-9652, Harry Palmer at 479-640-0767 or Jerry Nichols at 479-621-1621.