Category Archives: Loveland
Wild West Expo 2023
Nick and the Awesome in Action team were excited to return to Wicked West Expo at the Ranch Events Complex in Loveland on April 15th and 16th.
Nick had a booth featuring the opportunity to make your own superhero mask as well as offered a panel called Anyone Can Be a Hero about discovering your inner strengths and becoming a hero in your community.
Nick loved seeing everyone dressed up in costumes, and even wore some himself!
Nick met some new friends, and enjoyed seeing some old ones including Power Ranger Anthony and Nick Armstrong.
Power Ranger Anthony is a young cosplayer that Nick met at last years Wicked West Expo, and Nick was impressed by his spirit and determination! Check out his website and instagram.
Nick Armstrong is a super cool guy who started Fort Collins Comic Con and is active in the Fort Collins community. He’s hosted TedX events in Fort Collins and ran for City Council! Nick owns WTF Marketing and has helped Awesome in Action connect with events and the graphic designer for our newest shirt release! Check out WTF Marketing here and his Facebook.
Nick’s booth also had a photo station, and some awesome kids made some really cool masks!
Nick met some new friends, got some swag, and posed for some pictures, and overall had a blast at the event.
Nick loves going to cons, and Wicked West Expo has been an amazing experience. He can’t wait for Fort Collins Comic Con on August 26th and 27th, where he will again host an interactive booth offering the chance to make a superhero mask, and host his Anyone Can be a Hero panel. For more information about Fort Collins Comic Con check out this link. Make sure to get your badges and come see Nick and his team! Don’t forget your costumes!
Kidchella – August 2022
On Saturday August 20th, 2022, Nick and the Awesome in Action team were lucky enough to participate in the first annual Kidchella event hosted by the City of Loveland.
This event featured live music and performances, vendors, games, activities and Awesome in Action’s booth.
Nick wanted to spread his message of inclusivity by creating adaptive carnival games that were accessible to people of all ability levels. Nick often finds that when he goes to carnivals and festivals, the games are not accessible for someone in a wheelchair or with limited mobility.
Nick and the team started off by planning what accessible games we would offer. After a lot of thought, the team came up with a fishing pond game, a “choose your door” game, and a sensory bin with prizes. Nick loved the idea of the fishing pond game and was so excited for this project!
The next step was to do some fundraising to help pay for the costs of materials for Kidchella. Thanks to very generous donors, Nick was able to raise funds to cover all of the expenses for the project including all of the materials for the games as well as prizes and candy.
Then the team had to purchase materials for the event.
Well, it turns out that being experts in ability awareness and advocacy didn’t translate into being handy with tools and building materials! Nick’s team, including his mom and dad, all put in a tremendous amount of effort to create the games. Nick and his job coach Liz spent an eventful day at Lowe’s purchasing plywood, hinges, and other supplies to create the games, and Nick thought it was very funny that Liz had no idea what she was doing in a hardware store!
But, true to Awesome in Action’s mission, we persevered and didn’t let our perceived limitations stop us from being successful!
Nick and the team created the games from scratch and were so proud of their teamwork and ingenuity.
The day of the event, Nick and the team set up their booth with the adaptive games, resources about services for those with different abilities in Larimer county, and Awesome in Action marketing materials. The wind couldn’t stop the team from having a great time.
The fishing pond game was a huge success, and there was a long line of kids waiting to play the entire day! The younger kids loved the sensory bin, and Nick had so much fun watching them dig around in the rice and find prizes.
Nick and the team offered adaptive “fishing poles” with large grips for those with limited mobility, using dowel rods and pool noodles. Talk about smart!
Overall the event was a huge success and proved that Nick and the Awesome in Action team truly face any new challenges with an open mind, sense of community and team work.
This event wouldn’t have been possible without the incredible donations from the community, and Nick can’t say “thank you” enough!
Nick wants to specifically thank his mom, dad, Carl, Audrey, Kelleen, Allee, and Anne for coming together and helping him create the games and man his booth. Nick would also like to thank Kerry Helke and her team with the City of Loveland for giving Awesome in Action the opportunity to participate!
We can’t wait for next year’s Kidchella festival!
Awesome in Action, Co 