Mall Mice Gather At Ring O’ Fun

Tue., Sept. 24, 1996

By Paul Turner srpaulturner@gmail.com

This one little boy was running in tight circles, making a sound like a yodeling pony.

And a tiny girl in pigtails and a pink sweatshirt was doing a dead-on vocal imitation of screeching tires.

Several parents looked weary.

Welcome to the ring - NorthTown’s answer to preschoolers’ energy overloads/recreation needs. Enter at your own risk.

It’s a slightly sunken carpeted circle at the intersection of two ground-floor concourses. “Unsupervised Play Area,” the signs say. “Do Not Leave Your Child Unattended. Children 5 and Under Only.”

You’ve heard of mall rats (teenagers)? Well, the ring is for mall mice. And early Sunday afternoon, about 25 of them engaged in a cheery form of full-throated bedlam.

The kids take off their shoes and get after some serious playing.

“Mommy, watch me point my toes! Lookit, Mommy!”

“Da-dee! Da-dee! Da-dee!”

For many children, it takes about four seconds to make friends with others frolicking within sight of a shoe store and a larger-sizes women’s apparel shop.

The center of attention is a tiered object made for climbing and clambering that’s shaped somewhat like a tugboat. It’s about the size of a full-size pickup and is black, yellow, red and green.

Kids are drawn to it like metal filings to a magnet. For an onlooker, comparisons with beehives and ant colonies can be irresistible.

High up, directly above the ring, is an octagonal opening in the mall’s second floor. Shoppers there can look down on the kids and their parents from a railing. And a lot of those casual spectators probably have the same thought: If the energy of this romper-room slam-dance could be harnessed by the Northwest utility power grid, we could dynamite Grand Coulee.

The lip of the ring is shaped like a big 360-degree sofa. So moms and dads can sit down as they repeat their mantra, “Be careful now.”

One man in a Seahawks sweatshirt repeatedly asked his little girl, dressed in jeans and a jumper, if she was ready to go. You could hear the hope in his voice. Each time, his daughter’s answer was to run back to the tugboat.

Nobody was taking snapshots. Nobody used a video camera.

That’s because the ring isn’t about Kodak moments. It’s about shopping survival.

, DataTimes MEMO: Being There is a weekly feature that looks at Inland Northwest gatherings.

Being There is a weekly feature that looks at Inland Northwest gatherings.

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