By Sam Elliott
Fishers’ messiest tradition is back for its fourth year as Cyntheanne Park will host Mud Day from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. July 9.
“To me, Mud Day is really the embodiment of being a kid. It is just mayhem” Fishers Parks and Recreation Director Tony Elliott said. “What we do is essentially we till up almost a football field-size space, we add about 20 tons of dirt to it and then we add about 50,000 gallons of water and create just a giant, soupy, sloppy mud pit for kids to play in.”
The free event, sponsored by Cathedral High School, also will include a DJ providing music and food trucks on site. A special section of the mud pit will be coned off for children ages 4 and younger.
“It’s one of the most photogenic events we do,” Elliott said. “Kids are just covered head to toe in mud and you see the whites of their eyes and teeth but that’s about it.”
The mud pit is next to the pickle ball courts at Cyntheanne Park, where ample parking is available. More than 3,000 people attended and got dirty during last year’s event.
“I think Fishers kids and Fishers families just want these kind of opportunities to be kids and that’s exactly what Mud Day is,” Elliott said. “It’s a chance to go have fun and get as messy as you can possibly get. This event has become really iconic in the Fishers parks offerings just because it’s messy, it’s really simple and there’s really nothing else around that’s quite like it … At the end, we create a human car wash that kids and parents can walk through to get cleaned off the best they can, but we recommend messy clothes and shoes that could be thrown away and definitely bring a lot of towels for the minivan seats because there is going to mud everywhere.”
