Ankeny SummerFest Is 'Hoppy' to Announce Its Theme for 2012

For all you Ankeny residents gearing up for this year's SummerFest events, you can now "hop, skip and jump" your way right into brainstorming following the announcement of this year's theme.

Members of the 46th annual event's theme subcommittee announced the official theme of SummerFest at a special meeting Wednesday afternoon, held at the .

This year's theme is "Leap Into Fun," said Deb Dyar, co-chairwoman for the festival's theme committee. SummerFest will be held July 12-15.

Dyar said the committee decided to play off the fact that 2012 is a leap year.

"2012 is going to be so jampacked with events, you're going to need that extra day to plan," Dyar said.

One of the primary reasons the "Leap Into Fun" theme was chosen was because it could easily be incorporated into the many SummerFest events, including the parade and the , Dyar said.

It also was selected because it represents Ankeny's and reflects the active lifestyles of the city's residents.

In addition to the slogan, this will be the first year SummerFest will have an official mascot, represented by — you guessed it — a frog. The mascot was created by julsdesign in Ankeny.

A contest will be held later this spring to name the frog.

"I'm excited to see what people come up," Dyar said.

Ankeny Chamber Director Julie Cooper praised the committee for its work.

"From someone taking a look at this process, what this team has done is very commendable," Cooper said.