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Brooke Thompson painted one of the fairy doors in preparation for a fairy to be placed inside. -
Shanna Covington painted one of the fairies’ names on its door. -
Pictured is one of the completed fairy doors.
As Scurry County has begun the re-opening process, people are looking forward to being able to get out and resume business as usual.
Some people are looking for fun ways to help others get out as well.
Jeanette Pritchard is heading up an effort to create a fairy trail in Towle Park and North Park.
“If you’ve ever been to Ruidoso, New Mexico, in their little park right downtown, a schoolteacher created a little fairy hunt for the kids, and I was just enthralled with it,” Pritchard said. “It was just so neat. The first time I went to Ruidoso, my son enjoyed it. We discovered it by accident, actually. And then I took my granddaughter one year, and of course she was very excited. I just thought it would be fun to do in Towle and North Park.”
The idea, Pritchard said, is that there are small painted wooden doors on trees scattered throughout the two parks. Inside each door would be a fairy with a story.
Shanna Covington, Randy Pritchard, Randall Pritchard, Brooke Thompson, Kim Guerrero and Pritchard are currently working on the doors, and hope to be finished within the next couple of weeks.
Covington, a local artist and author, is drawing the fairies, writing their names on the doors and writing their stories. Randy and Randall Pritchard are cutting and assembling the doors, and Thompson and Guerrero are painting the doors.
Jeanette Pritchard puts on the finishing touches with silk and ribbons.
There will be a total of 20 doors, 10 for each park.
“We’re trying to hurry up and get it finished, because I was hoping to have it ready by the time Snyder opened back up,” she said. “We’re making them from logs, so my husband is cutting the logs and then the doors and putting the latches and stuff on them, and my granddaughter is painting the actual doors, and I’m framing the pictures of the fairies.”
Pritchard said that she may not leave the doors up permanently because of potential vandalism.
“I was debating, because you know how people tear stuff up,” she said. “At first, I was just going to put it up and let it be a permanent thing, but the more I think about it, I think what we’ll do is just do it on weekends or something, just to prevent them from being torn up. My experience in law enforcement tells me that we would have trouble with people being destructive.”
Pritchard said that some of the doors are already finished, and all of the fairies are drawn and ready to be introduced to their new homes.
“If I can get on it and get these finished, I want to go ahead and do it, because I think it’s a good time with people getting back out and everything. And it’ll give the kids something to do,” she said.