The St. Martins Knights of Columbus event center was filled with smoke from grilling hamburgers, and laughter and shouting of people of all ages at the 2015 Golden Age Games on Thursday morning.
The games are held for the residents of local assisted living facilities and care centers. The residents are accompanied by staff to compete in a series of games designed for people of their age and ability. Participants cheer, dress in costumes and are treated to a free lunch. The event is sponsored by the Missouri Health Care Association.
The theme for this year's games was "Living Throughout the Decades." Bright-colored tie-dye T-shirts, flapper dresses and military apparel reflected different trends from the 1920s through the 1960s.
"Each year, each of our facilities work with the residents that are wanting to come, and for their costumes and spirit they get a trophy," said Joyce Malmberg, administrator at the Miller County Care Center and member of the Missouri Health Care Association.
The different care centers had custom cheers to match their costumes. The groups' cheers were a mix between '60s-style protest chants, military cadence and swing music. Some of the centers' residents even brought instruments to assist the cheers.
The groups competed in contests like wheelchair races, bowling, horseshoes, bingo, cow milking and hog calling. While hog calling was the last event of the day, it was the most fun, Malmberg said. There was also a trivia competition and dance contest.
"Our residents enjoy it a lot," said Nicole Jones of Adams Street Place. "I think it is such a good event because it gives the residents something to do that is different."
Jones wore a 1920s flapper dress and was accompanied by another Adams Street Place staffer, Leslie Ferrin. Ferrin said she enjoyed the event because it gets the residents out and socializing. The residents of Adams Street Place worked with staff to learn cheers, sew costumes and create a banner, Ferrin and Jones said.
More than 200 people from 10 different facilities attended the games, Malmberg said. Half of the attendees were staff from care centers, and the other half were residents.
One of the residents, Erma Denton, said it was her first time at the event, but she was having a blast.
"It is awesome. I love it," Denton said after competing in the wheelchair race. "I will compete in whatever they want me to. We will compete in everything we can. So far it is just wonderful, really wonderful. I have enjoyed it so much, every bit of it."
Denton wore something similar to a USO performer's uniform and a constant smile. The crowd that watched her wheel across the finish line applauded the entire group for each of the three heats of the women's wheelchair-racing competition. Each person's effort was celebrated by the caregivers.
"I think that it shows how much fun our elderly can have," Malmberg said. "If you watch them and watch the way they respond and laugh ... they really get into the different themes. I think the people need to know that they just don't go to a nursing home to pass away. They have a lot of things going on nowadays in the nursing homes."