The fruitcake must fly on.

The popular Great Fruitcake Toss in Manitou Springs was canceled last January after 17 years, but that didn’t stop Marc Straub, a Manitou resident, from creating a new tradition. He’s the executive director of Cool Science, a local organization that works to make science and engineering more fun for kids, and sponsor of the second annual Cool Science Mini-Catapult Fruitcake Toss. It happens Saturday at Imagination Celebration in The Citadel mall.

“It always surprised me there was nothing for kids to do,” Straub says about the Manitou event. About five or six years ago, he took matters into his own hands and set up a table with precut catapult pieces and marshmallows for kids. The kid-friendly addition took off, he says.

So last year, when Straub heard rumors about the event being canceled, it was only natural that he turn his side affair into the real deal. He did some last minute advertising and attracted about 250 folks to the Manitou Art Center for the first Mini-Catapult Fruitcake Toss.

Saturday’s event includes a catapult building workshop in the morning, before the accuracy, distance and catapult decorating competitions begin after noon. Kids in kindergarten through eighth grade and their parents are invited to either assemble the premade mini-catapults on-site or bring their own. The only rule? Homemade catapults must fit into a 1-inch by 1-inch by 1-inch box, Straub says.

And there’ll be plenty of marshmallows and small chunks of fruitcake on hand

“We want the kids to experiment with a catapult, and realize if you adjust the angle on it, it goes farther,” he says. “Or if you use a heavier marshmallow, it won’t go as far as a lighter one. They’re figuring out design things and how to make it work better.”

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Catapult building and decorating workshop, 10 a.m.-noon; distance and accuracy competitions, noon-2 p.m., Saturday, Imagination Celebration, The Citadel mall, 750 Citadel Drive East, free, preregistration encouraged; 389-6431, info@coolscience.org, coolscience.org, www.imaginationcelebration.org.

JEN MULSON, THE GAZETTE, 636-0270, 
JEN.MULSON@GAZETTE.COM