Eastside Elementary School’s Fall Festival attracted hundreds of fun-seekers looking to enjoy more than 30 activities.
“It was an awesome evening,” said Eastside principal Carol Prater. “We had a great turnout. We received great support from the community and our parents. Our donation ticket sales were more than we’ve ever had. Our total before expenses was almost $19,000. I think that’s the most we’ve ever raised.”
Prater says the hallways were crowded all evening.
“We had a lot of fun games in the rooms,” said Prater. “I don’t know what the favorite was. No one mentioned that to me, but everyone seemed to be having fun.”
Classroom activities were offered from 5-7 p.m. and included ring toss, bean bag toss, plinko, skee-ball, bowling, duck pond, glow in the dark ring toss, crate ball, cornhole, toilet toss, pumpkin putt putt, lollipop game, and minute-to-win-it. Other activities were a cake walk, face painting, arcade games, nail spa, tattoos, necklace sale, and bake sale.
In the school gym, visitors were treated to a silent auction, a large inflatable with a prehistoric dinosaur theme for $5 and bull riding for $5. A live auction started at 7 p.m.
After the live auction, Eastside’s “Iconic TV Theme Song Show” began.
“The talent show was mainly faculty and staff with a few students,” said Prater. “We performed the theme songs from iconic TV shows.”
Shows were “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Brady Bunch,” “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” “The Flintstones,” “The Addams Family,” “Beverly Hillbillies,” “The Mickey Mouse Club,” “The Golden Girls,” “Laverne and Shirley,” and “The Jeffersons.”
“I was in ‘The Flintstones,’” said Prater. “The Mickey Mouse Club featured our kindergarten students.”
Each year, the theme for the talent show changes. Prater says the credit for the creative ideas belongs to members of the entertainment committee.
“We have committees that work on different areas of the fall festival,” she said. “We have an entertainment committee and they decide on a theme for the talent show. This year, they decided it would be iconic TV shows.”
Proceeds from the festival, says Prater, will be used to purchase a new sign for the front of the school, a new sound system for the gym, and technology – in that order until the funds have been exhausted.
 “I appreciate the support from all the local businesses, the community and the Eastside families,” said Prater.