Take one sunny winter’s day on a vacant lot in the historic Wheatbelt town of York. Add four mud kitchens, one disco marquee, thirty-six hay bales and ten trailer loads of beautiful dirt.
Invite volunteer-fire fighters from the York Fire & Rescue Service (and ask them to bring their firetrucks). Mix water and dirt, then wait patiently for 1,500+ monsters to show up for hours of wild and wonderful muddy fun. Welcome to the Mud Monsters Ball!
Nature Play WA held our first ever Mud Monsters Ball in partnership with the Shire of York on Sunday 3 June 2018, as part of the ‘YORKids – A Winter Adventure’ festival. The Mud Monster Ball was situated right in the heart of York – surrounded by historic buildings on Avon Terrace.
The belle of the ball was, without a doubt, the massive mud pit at the centre of the event. Within minutes of opening, mud was flying, splashing, and oozing, as attendees dressed themselves in the appropriate costume for the event: head to toe mud. The mud pit was the busiest zone throughout the Mud Monsters Ball, and any brave kids and adults who entered were guaranteed wholesome (at times chaotic!) fun.
Nearby, kids bopped to monster music on a muddy dancefloor, under sparkling disco balls at the “Monster Music and Muddy Moves” marquee.
Other unstructured activities on offer included crafting flower corsages and crowns at the “Mud Monster Accessories” zone.
At Café Le Mud, the Nature Play WA mud kitchens were put through their paces as muddy master chefs cooked up sloppy, slimy, delicious mud dishes.
At the back of the lot, muddy monsters worked together to create shelters from sticks and leafy branches in the “Mud Village”.
The York Fire & Rescue Service team was popular, intermittently hosing down the ball guests from their firetrucks, making even more muddy puddles!
Nature Play WA also launched our brand new, free Shire of York “YORKids” Nature Passport at the event. Families can use it to visit some great nearby nature, try new things, be brave, get messy and have some adventures in the Shire of York.
We would like to thank the Shire of York for their support, the York Fire & Rescue Service (DFES Volunteer Fire and Rescue Service Brigade), and all the mud monsters who helped us create the messiest, muddiest nature play party the Wheatbelt has ever seen!
