McDougle Elementary hosts first annual fall festival
by Cameron Weaver
Carrboro Commons Editor
Cotton candy, games with prizes, silent auctions, people of all ages… Sounds a lot like the State Fair, but these scenes actually took place at McDougle Elementary School’s Fall Festival on Saturday, Oct. 27.
Cameron Weaver photo
The first annual Fall Festival was a fundraiser for the school’s PTA, according to PTA president Karen Frisch. The festival brought in about $18,000.
“This money goes toward school programs we’ve traditionally supported,” she said. Such programs include skate nights, teacher appreciation days, homework assistance, ice cream socials and camp scholarships.
More than 60 PTA members, parents, students and community volunteers organized the event. The PTA began planning the festival in May. “We’ve been working on this since before the end of last year,” Frisch said. The festival lasted from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. and was open to the public.
The school building was transformed into a virtual carnival, with almost all of the hallways filled with activity booths. Volunteers ran the booths, which offered games, food, crafts and more. Some of the activities included beanbag tosses, a cake walk, a moon bounce and a dress-up station.
Raffle prizes, “class baskets” and a silent auction were located in the school auditorium. The class baskets were based on themes that each class put together, such as “Movie Night” or “Arts & Crafts.” The silent auction included items donated by students’ families, including beach getaway weekends, as well as donations from Carrboro businesses, such as a gift certificate from Milltown.
During the few weeks leading up to the festival, McDougle students sold raffle tickets for $1 each. Raffle prizes included an iPod Nano, a 20” bicycle and the entire Harry Potter series in hardcover.
Students and families could enjoy the day’s events by purchasing tickets for the booths and class baskets for 25 cents each. Some activities required multiple tickets. The festival had something to offer for the entire family, from a silent auction for adults to a haunted house that only children could fit into.
Cameron Weaver photo
Each booth’s main volunteer was in charge of arranging the booth’s other volunteers for the rest of the day. Many volunteers were local middle and high school students who heard about the event through their own schools or families. Student volunteer Rachel Harrison was in charge of a Nascar-themed station. She is a former McDougle student who is now a ninth grader at Chapel Hill High. She found out about the festival because her younger sister attends McDougle. Harrison said the day was progressing smoothly with very few problems. “All the little kids are really nice, and they don’t try to mess up anything,” she said.
Jean Hartford-Todd, a parent of two McDougle students, ran the nursing booth where children could wear doctor’s scrubs and perform pretend operations on stuffed animals. Hartford-Todd solicited a registered nurse to oversee the “operations” so that the booth would be educational. She mentioned how much preparation went into all aspects of the festival. “It’s been hours and hours of work just for this station,” Hartford-Todd said.
One of the busiest stations was a beauty booth where people of all ages could get temporary tattoos, manicures, face painting or hair dye. McDougle Middle School students Mesa Pivirotto and Ann Myers were among the volunteers at this station. Myers heard about the volunteer position through her mother, Mary Ann Myers, a P.E. teacher at McDougle Elementary. Myers and Pivirotto applied spray paint hair color to students’ hair, sometimes in stripes or multi-colored patterns.
“The kids often want the same things as their friends,” Myers said.
Added Pivirotto, “And their parents are like, ‘Wow.’”
Ted Calhoun Jr. brought his two daughters, Lara and Cecilia, to the hair dye booth. Cecilia attends McDougle for Pre-K. Calhoun said the family was eager to attend the festival because they could support the school and also enjoy the first sunny day after the weekend’s rain. He added that the festival was well-planned and more elaborate than other school festivals he’d seen. “The best part about the festival is that some of the same activities can be for all age groups,” Calhoun said.
Frisch said the PTA was pleased with the event’s turnout and that the day went smoothly overall. “We hope to do this again and build on our success,” she said.
