CONWAY — Kids, get your flashlights, rubber boots and toad-hunting skills ready — Tuesday is the Toad Roundup.
The annual pre-Toad Suck Daze event to collect the starring amphibians is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. in Pompe Park on Prince Street. The Toad Roundup is sponsored this year by the Arkansas Travelers baseball team.
“We always need a lot of toads,” said Mary Margaret Satterfield, director of Toad Suck Daze and events for the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce. “We would like to have between 250 and 300 toads for that weekend. It gives all the toads a chance to rest.”
The 35th annual Toad Suck Daze is scheduled for Friday through May 1, and The World Championship Toad Races are the signature event. Races are held in the Toad Dome and include Very Important Toad races and Jump for Education races, in which a student can win a laptop computer for himself and his school.
Satterfield said Pompe Park, adjacent to the Walmart Neighborhood Market, is a good place to find toads.
“The toads don’t really come out till it gets a little warmer,” she said. “We’ve had a couple of warm nights; I think they’ll be out this year. And with all the rain we’ve had, I think this will be a good toad year.”
Children will receive $1 in Toad Store credit for each toad they bring to the chamber, 900 W. Oak St.
“They can bring as many as they’d like, but we limit payment to 10 toads per child,” Satterfield said.
Some people procure their toads early, keep them, feed them and, perhaps, train them on little toad treadmills.
Satterfield, who grew up in Conway, said she has never raced a toad.
“As a child, I was more afraid of toads; I never did it as a child,” she said. “I’ve been busy doing festival stuff as I’ve gotten older. I’ve helped out, but I’ve never raced a toad. There are not many who grew up in Conway and didn’t.”
The toads are released back into their natural habitat to hop another day after the festival, Satterfield said.