Crowd Pleaser

Hundreds of costumed children traded in tickets to play games and try to win prizes at the Albany Parent-Teacher Organization’s annual Fall Fest held at Nancy Smith Elementary School last Saturday.

“It ended up going smoothly,” said co-organizer Malarie Sutton. “We had enough help to get everything done, although we could always use a little more help.”

The majority of the booths were open for most of the evening, according to Sutton, though a few had to close early.

“The cake walk closed within an hour because the cakes were all gone,” she said. “The students running the booth did not realize that they needed to wait until they had several contestants, not just one or two people participating, before starting each ‘walk.’ Most of the other booths were open until around 8:30 p.m.”

Bingo is typically the final booth to close, remaining open for players until all of the prizes have been awarded. That area closed about 9:15 p.m.

“Thank you to every one who donated items for Bingo, and to all the parents and students that helped set up, worked a shift, or stayed to help clean up,” said Sutton. “I want to say thank you to everyone who volunteered their time so things could run smoothly and the kids could enjoy Fall Fest.”

Shayna Duke and Sutton are already starting to think about next year’s event.

“Shayna and I have some plans in the works, including doing some painting (on some of the booths) and maybe adding something new next year,” said Sutton.

Tisha Wilkins and Michaela Smith headed up the cafeteria crew, with stew, chili, and other traditional Fall Fest foods available to a steady stream of customers throughout the night.

“The warmer weather affected what people ate in the cafeteria this year,” Wilkins said. “We sold out of potatoes and hot dogs, which is unusual, and we had chili and stew left at the end of the day. Most years we run out of chili and stew.”

Wilkins said that leftover desserts supplied by the senior students were sent to the Feed Store for Running Man, and the extra chili and stew was packaged up and sold by the gallon.

“We had enough volunteers and a good number of diners,” said Wilkins. “A couple of grades ended up short-handed on cafeteria volunteers, but we had other people who stepped in and helped us out.”

Donnie Lucas was the emcee for the costume contest. Megaen Birdwell, Bobbie Cauble, and Cory Brown judged the competition.

Fall Fest is the major fundraiser for the PTO each year, and all the funds go back into the school to benefit the school, all of the students, and the teachers.

Costume Contest

Winners in the annual costume competition were as follows:

Under two: 1. Wayne Becker – Tinman, 2. Sofie Tabor – Cabbage Patch, 3. Zowey Mitchell – Moana.

Two and three year olds: 1. River Clark – Easy Mac, 2. Elijah Pacanins – Piñata, 3. Rowan Connally – Alfalfa.

Four year olds: 1. Berkley Davis – Amelia Earhart, 2. Laney Vaughn – Deer, 3. Wyatt Brown – Matador.

Kindergarten and first grade: 1. Kanton Duke – Rodeo Clown, 2. Parker Rose – Flash, 3. Zamiah Dockins – Genie.

Second and third grade: 1. Karlea Sanchez – Twirler, 2. Cash Edgar – Gorilla, 3. Zaiden Dockins  – Vampire.

Fourth, fifth, and sixth grade: 1. Keira Caudel – Pikachu, 2. James Weaver – Grim Reaper, 3. Myleigh Leverage – Sully Monster Inc.

High School: 1.  Rylie Caudel – Werewolf.

Groups: 1. Carrion/Stapp cousins – Hocus Pocus. 2. Herron family – Wizard of Oz, 3. Kamryn Graham and Tara Cauble – Nurse and Patient.