Thousand Oaks : Fake Snow Brings Genuine Delight

At first, 7-year-old Elie Schwartz and a dozen of her neighborhood friends were hesitant to touch the cold, wet snow covering Elie’s front yard Friday.

Some were born and raised in the Thousand Oaks neighborhood and had never seen the flaky stuff before.

But it didn’t take long for them to discover snowballs and the thrill of stuffing icy flakes down one another’s shirts.

“This is great,” screamed Elie who won the 3 1/2 tons of manufactured snow in a contest sponsored by the Conejo Valley Recreation and Park District. Children 5 to 13 were invited to guess what the temperature of the North Pole would be on Dec. 18.

Six children guessed the correct number, and then Elie’s name was drawn from the group.

“I guessed negative 18 because Jan. 18 is my mother’s birthday,” Elie said while rolling an ice ball to throw at her father, who was taking videos of the occasion.

Tracy Tucker, one of the five Recreation and Park District employees who spread the snow around the Amber Wood Place lawn after a truck dumped it, said the contest was the brainstorm of an office administrator who had grown up in the Midwest and wanted to teach California children the joys of a white Christmas.

But there were a few telltale signs that these children were from sunny climes.

Shaun Hanrahan, from across the street, showed up to frolic in the snow in his shorts and tennis shoes.

And instead of building a snowman, the children began constructing a castle just like the ones they build at the beach.

It was 3-year-old Jason McCoy’s introduction to snow.

After initial apprehension, Jason ran around in circles, jumped in the mounds of snow, fell on his belly, wriggled around and threw flakes into the air and all over himself, laughing all the while.

“This is the first year we’ve ever done this,” Tucker said.

“But judging from the smiles on the kids’ faces, this probably won’t be the last time.”