In a conference-wide sports club effort to do something for the surrounding community, the UW-Eau Claire athletic council plans to host a children’s carnival from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday at McPhee Center.

The carnival, in its second year, will feature most of the university’s sports teams sponsoring an activity related to their sport.

Children will be put into small groups and moved from station to station.

Senior Pete Peterson of the wrestling team said that last year the team showed the 20 or so kids who came to the event wrestling moves and had them participate in a wrestling exercise.

“It’s really neat to teach them,” Peterson said, because some of the kids don’t understand wrestling.

The carnival, which is free to the public, is meant for children in first to sixth grades and its registration is from 12:30 to 1 p.m. on Sunday.

“It’s something fun for (children) to do,” Peterson said, and it gives the parents a break for a few hours.

Junior Chad McCartney, a member of the cross country and track teams, is president of the Student Athlete Advisory Council that is sponsoring the carnival.

The track and cross country teams will have an obstacle course for their station, McCartney said.

Teams that have out-of-town meets this weekend won’t be there, but teams that only play in the fall will be present with their own activities.

Last year, the football team had the kids dress up in their shoulder pads and helmets.

It was cute to see a little first grader in big shoulder pads and a helmet he can’t see out of, McCartney said.

Last year went really well, he said. The kids said they would come back again.

The group still was working out the kinks of the carnival last year, McCartney said. There were not a lot of kids last year, but McCartney said he expects more this year.

The idea for a children’s carnival came from UW-Stevens Point, where the school put on a carnival in the mall, McCartney said.

The athletic council also is planning its annual spring cleanup of the Water Street area from 10 a.m. to noon on April 29.

The trash cleanup used to be what the council did for its community activity, McCartney said, but it decided to keep the cleanup even though it also is sponsoring the carnival.

About 100 athletes participated in the cleanup last year, so it went pretty quick, McCartney said.

It’s a way for the sports teams to give back to the community, he said.

“Usually we get quite a few bags full (of trash),” Peterson said.

“They do a good job.”