Robbie Scroggin

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Big, bigger, biggest bubbles: bubble blowing contest
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Ukiah Daily Journal (CA)-June 12, 2005
Author: LAURA CLARK/The Daily Journal
It was shopping as usual Saturday at Wal-Mart for those over the age of 12, who were not eligible to participate in the "6th Annual Dubble Bubble National Bubble Blowing Contest."

Younger children, however, were given the opportunity to broaden their shopping experience, if they were in the Ukiah store -- or any Wal-Mart across America -- between 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., and up for some friendly competition.

The child who blew the biggest diameter bubble, measured with an official Dubble Bubble meter, would, at the local level, win a duffel bag and then come back to the Ukiah Wal-Mart on June 15 for an award ceremony, and also have a shot at going to the national bubble-blowing finals in August.

Meanwhile, demonstrator Jean Hoffman, at a table piled with bubble gum on Saturday, recruited young passersby.

"Do you kids blow bubbles? OK, chew this, get it soft, and when you are ready to blow bubbles let me know," Hoffman said.

Shayla Hloucha, 8, of Ukiah, was up first. As she was preparing to blow her best and biggest bubble, her younger sister, Kiana, 6, was being coached by their mother, Angie Hloucha.

"Are you gonna try? You gotta kind of push your tongue into it and blow some air through it," the shy little girl's mother explained to her.

Soon after Shayla's bubble was measured as a "10" on the Dubble Bubble meter, a boy in a Red Sox uniform started warming up for his turn.

Asked how good he was at blowing bubbles, the 10-year-old Ukiah boy named Niko, used his hands to make a circle about the size of a cantaloupe and said: "Yesterday I blew one about that big."

As other children wandered up for their bubble gum -- up to three pieces were allowed in the mouth at one time -- Niko kept preparing for the big moment.

"I keep on over-stretching my mouth," he said, chomping on the gum before losing it when he attempted to blow a bubble. "I caught it," he said of the gum after it fell out of his mouth. Then, he put it back in and started chewing again.

By this time, several people had gathered in the contest area and lots of little mouths were bulging with bubble gum. Soon after, Niko blew his bubble and then moved on.

"Put a lot of gum around the tongue," Maria Lopez told her younger sister, Ana, when she was getting ready to blow.

"It's your age," Ana's younger brother, Jaime, told Ana when her bubble measured "11" on the meter.

Asked if he knew the secret of blowing a big bubble, Redwood Valley's 11-year-old Robbie Scroggin said: "No. ... Just stick your tongue in and blow."

"I don't really have a secret," his 8-year-old sister Kayla said.

By noon, the largest bubble so far -- a "12" -- had been blown by 5-year-old Stephanie Alvarez.

How did the little girl dressed all in pink, like the color of the gum in her mouth, blow such a big bubble?

"I blowed it really hard," she said simply.

From the preliminary national contest, five finalists from across the country will be identified to participate in the national finals in August. These five children will compete for the grand prize of a $10,000 U.S. Savings Bond. In addition, a $1,000 donation in the winner's honor will go to the Children's Miracle Network.

Four runnersup will receive a $5,000 U.S. Savings Bond, and a $1,000 donation in each runner-up's honor will be made to local children's hospitals through Children's Miracle Network.

Section: Local

Record Number: 2917225
(c) 2005 Ukiah Daily Journal. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Media NewsGroup, Inc. by NewsBank, Inc.