Grown-ups are too big and busy to enter a coloring contest, right?
Don't mention that to the 152 Arkansans, ages 21 to 95, who took up the Family section's "Crayon therapy" challenge in June.
Jaws dropped in the newsroom as entries in the adults-only coloring contest piled up. Number 10 envelopes bearing 49-cent Forever postage were soon dwarfed by stacks of 9-by-12-inch mailers stamped "do not bend, do not bend, do not bend" that had cost their senders 70 cents, 98 cents, $1.20, $1.42, $1.64 ... $5.75.
Seven staff members of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, including Nikki Dawes, co-creator of the base drawing, chose nine finalists; and then the whole Little Rock newsroom voted. The winners are:
First place: Vivian Lawson Hogue, 72, of Conway, won The Uncolored Book for You to Color by Matt French, courtesy of Schiffer Publishing.
Second place: Sherry Mackey, 69, of Fayetteville, gets a set of "Secret Garden" postcards by Johanna Basford, courtesy of Laurence King Publishing.
Third place: Candace Brown, 21, of Rogers, gets a set of "Secret Garden" notecards, also from Basford/King Publishing.
Honorable mentions: Karen Hesse, 39, of Gravette; Kara McKinnon, 28, of Rogers; Judy Freidel, 60, of Hot Springs Village; Charlotte Milligan, 66, of Elkins; Linda Flake, 77, of Little Rock; and Lesa Handly, 55, of Little Rock.
Brown was the youngest colorist. For several days it appeared that Gertrude Rice of Houston would be the oldest entrant, as she is 93; but then in came the entry of Jean Blomquist of Little Rock, who wrote, "I am 931/2 and had forgotten what fun it is to color." And a half.
But ultimately, Margie Goins, 95, of Bryant proved the most senior submitter. She will receive a new box of crayons.
Crayon- and glitter-festooned efforts arrived from nursing homes, from careworn caregivers, from retirees, from young professionals, from a club in Gravel Ridge that's devoted to coloring, from a pair of friends who sat down one Sunday for playtime and then cut up a cardboard shirt box to protect their work.
Deb West of Fayetteville used the contest as part of her physical therapy after hand surgery; Linda Stell of Fordyce colored her submission while recovering from hip replacement.
Personal messages attested to the power of "a box of colors" to relieve distress, relax, or conjure memories of long-ago Christmases. Rita Harmon, 65, of North Little Rock, confided that "34 years ago I was coloring when my water broke."
And C.C. Carlton, 92, of Nashville, spoke for several when he wrote, "I'm quite sure that I am like the other contest entries; I laugh every time I think about submitting this entry. However I did win the coloring contest in kindergarten many, many, many years ago."
Family on 07/29/2015