Niwot Nifties prepare for 4th of July in Niwot

The 4th of July celebration in Niwot is one of the town's biggest events and it is less than a month away. Julie Breyer, heads the 4th of July planning from the Niwot Community Association, and has been hard at work getting things prepared for the upcoming celebration. On Friday June 14, Breyer hosted the Niwot Nifties 4-H Club to start assembling children's bicycle decoration bags.

Seven youth volunteers from the Niwot Nifties were present to help assemble the bags. Each bag is handed out the morning of July 4th to children who want to ride their bicycle in the parade. Decoration bags contain patriotic themed pinwheels, flags, paper plates, playing cards to clip to spokes to emulate a motorcycle sound, bracelets, necklaces, temporary tattoos, fringe decoration, star-shaped tinsel, and a plastic banner.

"When the Nifties come to help," said Breyer, "they are so efficient. They have a system and they're so positive and fun. They assemble about 300 bags in under two hours." Breyer prepares what she can in materials, but the Nifties "are so effective and a great group of kids to work with to assemble these (bicycle decoration) bags."

The Niwot Nifties is the longest running 4-H Club in Boulder County with members ranging from ages 8 to 18. They focus on general projects that they present at the Boulder County Fair in August. Projects include photography, animal care, model rocketry, cooking, cake decorating, and dog training. Within the club they perform community service, public speaking, and judging of small things like "best sea-shells" to understand how the judging process works when they present their individual projects at the fair. Their year-long process begins in the fall.

4-H came from an agricultural beginning. 4-H is a U.S. based, nationwide organization of youth members with a mission where, "Through hands-on learning, youth build not only confidence, creativity and curiosity, but also life skills such as leadership and resiliency to help them thrive today and tomorrow," according to their website. The four H's stand for head, heart, hands, and health and are the core values of the organization.

Angela Hudgins has been the leader of the Niwot Nifties for two years. Hudgins' children were involved in the club, and she was asked to step in as the leader by Cindy Shepherd and Mary Klingbiel, who ran the club for several years. Hudgins enjoys working with this group because of the environment the members facilitate, with a large spectrum of interests and a large age range of people involved.

Niwot Nifties has been helping construct the bags for the past five years. "We love the connection with the town and with the parade," Hudgins said. "The NCA is so supportive of the club," and it provides community service, a big aspect of the club. "Every kid in our club went through Niwot Elementary," she said.

The club may not be decorating the children's bicycles at the parade, but they will be featured elsewhere in the parade lineup.

For anyone interested in getting involved with the club or who wants more information can contact [email protected].