Families gather for Ronnie Viss Kids’ Day despite windy weather

Families still showed up at Ogletree Gap Park on Saturday morning, turning the fifth annual Ronnie Viss Kids’ Day into a crowded reminder that Copperas Cove parents will come out for a free community event even when the wind makes plans harder to keep. The weather kept the day from unfolding exactly as intended, but children still had face painting, nail painting, mini train rides, a free hot dog lunch with chips and a juice pouch, and a stuffed-animal station where they could build their own toy.

The event was hosted by the Cen Tex Exchange Club and remained free to attend, a point organizers leaned on as they tied family fun to child-abuse prevention and community support. Tammy Martinez, the event chair, said the day was held in honor of Ronnie Viss, who died May 7, 2022. Viss had been the 2021-2022 president of the Exchange Club of Copperas Cove and had been a member for more than nine years.

Those who knew Viss remembered him as someone who was always “being about the children,” a phrase that matched the Exchange Club’s long-running prevention mission. The National Exchange Club adopted the prevention of child abuse as its national project in 1979, and Copperas Cove’s local club has kept that work visible through outreach like Kids’ Day and earlier community events, including the 2022 gathering that served 300 hot dogs during a two-hour lunch period.

Even without the bounce houses, which could not be used because of the weather, the park still drew tables staffed by local organizations and a steady stream of families moving from one activity to the next. Copperas Cove ISD cosmetology students painted nails, while Communities In Schools offered a booth built around a simple mirror exercise that asked children to write a positive word about themselves. The organization says it supports students through trained site coordinators, mental-health support and other integrated services, and says 99% of its students showed up prepared and ready to learn in the 2023-24 school year.

Attendees who were at the park for the first time said the event gave them a chance to reconnect with people in the community. That mix of practical support, youth-centered outreach and a neighborly Saturday morning fit the way Copperas Cove has remembered Viss, who also served in the Citizens Police Academy, Citizens Focus Group and Cemetery Advisory Board before his death at age 45.