North Kingstown's BoldrDash Promotes Outdoor Fun Amid Crisis

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RI — Rhode Island families might not yet be able to get together in groups due to the coronavirus health emergency.

But there is nothing stopping them from getting outside.

So while BoldrDash is unable to run the obstacle course challenge events it has since 2011, BoldrDash president Lynn Hall is hoping to get families across the state into the fresh air as part of a contest to make an engaging video about the fun and virtues of outdoor physical activity.

The North Kingstown-based company has partnered with Thrive Outside, a RI non-profit organization that promotes outdoor learning, for the contest where the first prize is a $10,000 koi pond, the second prize is a $350 pollinator garden and the third prize is a gift card to Dave’s Marketplace.

"When everything was shutting down and business owners were talking about pivoting," Hall said, "we thought that we might not be able to pivot our business yet, but we still can encourage ways to play outside. So we came up with a contest idea of having people get a few things from around the house to build an obstacle course in their backyard."

Hall said when she proposed the contest to the board of Thrive Outside, Marc Dimona, of Dimona's Agway of Portsmouth, offered to donate the grand prize.

"I had to read it a couple of times," Hall said of the email proposing the koi pond to the winner. "That's when we realized that this could be really cool. It could be really fun."

When Sunflower Design donated the pollinator garden, and Dave's Marketplace donated the gift card, everything was in place.

The contest is free with families asked to submit a video of them doing anything they are making outside. Hall said rather than build an elaborate obstacle course, organizers are looking for something engaging.

"It's about being innovative and having fun," Hall said. "The winner of this is not going to be the one who did the best obstacle course. It's about being creative."

The deadline for the contest has been extended until May 31 to give families additional time for submissions amid distance learning requirements, and the poor spring weather during the early part of the stay-at-home order.

Hall said the contest has been a good project for BoldrDash while the company waits for the go-ahead to resume its programming. BoldrDash had to cancel its Winter Dash in March due to the coronavirus shutdown, but hopes to hope its boot camps to small groups of those training this summer, pending state guidelines on gathering limits.

Hall said her fall events — including the very popular Doggie Dash — remain on as scheduled, at least for now. She has spent her recent down days painting and refinishing the course objects for easier disinfecting when they are put back in use, per expected guidelines for businesses like gyms and workout facilities when they are allowed to welcome back customers.

"From everyone in authority I have spoken with, being outside is better," Hall said of a relative protection against COVID-19. "When you are going over my obstacles you are still going over obstacles that everyone just went over, but we'll have bleach and sanitizer there to keep things as clean as possible. Then we will have time (between the camps) to shut down for four days and clean everything thoroughly.

"We hope it can be a good outdoor outlet for people in the summer," Hall concluded.

(If you own a Rhode Island business, and would like to share your experience with Patch and our readers about how you are working through the coronavirus health emergency and the phased reopening of the state's economy, then we want to tell your story. Contact Scott Souza at scott.souza@patch.com.)