First-ever Tater Tot Festival celebrates history of Idaho snack food while raising funds for child abuse prevention

IDAHO FALLS — Vendors and community members gathered at the first-ever Greater Tater Tot Festival at Sandy Downs in Idaho Falls Saturday to raise awareness of and money toward ending child abuse.

The festival also celebrated the history of the tater tot.

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Brian with LambWeston wearing a Napoleon Dynamite shirt at The Greater Tater Tot Festival. | Kaitlyn Hart, EastIdahoNews.com

Leslie Grigg of Ammon and his cousin, Steve Grigg, recently formed a nonprofit called Protect Your Tots, which raises funds for child abuse prevention. Leslie is a member of The Exchange Club of Idaho Falls, which devotes its efforts to many community service projects, including child abuse prevention.

“Protect Your Tots” was also the theme of the event. All the proceeds went towards a new Family Justice Center, a central location for the Domestic Abuse and Sexual Assault Center to process cases.

Steve says he and Leslie are proud to say their fathers, F. Nephi and Golden Grigg, founded Ore-Ida, the company that invented the tater tot.

Shannon Grigg with her tater tot earrings. | Kaitlyn Hart, EastIdahoNews.com

F. Nephi and Golden Grigg were victims of child abuse, according to Steve, and the family is using their platform to stand up for young victims everywhere.

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“My father and my uncle came from a family of 13. They were all very close. I know it was a different time, and they were on their own a lot,” say Steve. “These two guys never went to school.”

Steve says his hope is to have an event like this every year, and to one day make a large donation to a local hospital to sponsor a room for victims to be in a comfy, safe environment where they feel comfortable reporting instances of abuse.

“When you’re being interviewed by the police, and you’re a child, you don’t want that to take place in a cold, police interrogation room. They’d like an environment that’s more like a living room,” says Steve. “Somewhere there would be toys, and would make them comfortable, where they can process what happened and get through it.”

Champs Heart, Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office, Idaho Falls Police and Idaho Steel were some of the organizations in attendance.

The Idaho Steel booth showed how tater tots are made at a rate of 12,000 pounds an hour.

The modern day tater tot making machine at Idaho Steel. | Kaitlyn Hart, EastIdahoNews.com

As part of the event, attendees were given a complimentary basket of tater tots as they learned how to protect their tots at home from internet crimes, bullying, and many other kinds of child abuse.

CJ Scarlet, a Kids Safety Crusader and author of “Heroic Parenting” and “Raising Bad*** Kids,” was invited to speak at the event about giving children the courage to speak up in difficult situations.

CJ Scarlet at the Greater Tater Tot Festival. | Kaitlyn Hart, EastIdahoNews.com

When she heard Leslie and Steve had formed a nonprofit benefitting child abuse victims, it was her idea to call it “Protect Your Tots.”

Scarlet, who is a child abuse survivor, says only 7% of child abuse victims are abused by strangers. The rest are abused by people they know.

“People think that child abuse is a problem that can’t be solved, but that’s not true,” says Scarlet. “By teaching our children how to say no, how to trust their intuition, how to set and defend their boundaries, and how to come to us if they feel uncomfortable or afraid.”

Scarlet says the most important advice for parents trying to keep their children safe is to pay attention to the internet.

“Online is where you need to be wary of all strangers,” says Scarlet. “There is so much that can be done, and our kids have much more power to protect themselves than we think.”

Idaho Steel spokeswoman Andrea Todd was thrilled to support the Grigg’s cause and show the economic impact the tater tot has had on Idaho and the rest of the world.

“The Tater Tot Festival is an expression of thanks to the tater tot, and of the deep history of the Idaho spud itself,” says Todd. “It affects not only our agriculture industry but all other industries that it employs.”

The inside of the modern day tater tot making machine at Idaho Steel. | Kaitlyn Hart, EastIdahoNews.com