The Fall Family Festival Theme was “Farm to School”
November 6, 2015, 5:00-6:30 p.m.

Our enrolled community celebrated at the festival with displays featuring healthy food, farming, transportation, nutrition, cooking, catering, serving, tasting, and enjoying a wide variety of food, processes, products, and family cultures.

Planning —

The Head Parents from the classrooms, the School Support Committee, and several staff members planed extensive decorations of pumpkins, squash, grains, balloons, and fall influenced lighting effects. They planned for and the families reveled in food demonstrations, a large potluck, music, dancing, and balloon chasing. Approximately 300 people attended.

More Preparations —

Children in the classrooms were cooking and canning for months before the festival. Some of their dishes included, canned beans, pumpkin fries, crab puffs, and carrot muffins. The Pre-K classroom brought some of their canned beans for people to taste. There were displays of children’s cooking in classrooms, recipes, and research on healthy food and farming. And, of course, the families prepared a huge variety of dishes from many cultures for everyone to eat.

Caterer —

Our caterer, Chefables, contributed some of their new bread and desert dishes for us to sample during the event. They even delivered them and set them up. They also used our feedback to fine tune the items for regular distribution to the other 100 schools and programs whom they serve.

The Pumpkin Patch! —

Always a popular feature, was the pumpkin patch, where all ages of children found their favorite pumpkin, hay bale, straw bunch, small squash, or basket with which to play out their fantasy or to extend their explorations of the offerings there.

Music and Dancing —

We always have an abbreviated Music Together session that is very similar to the ones that our on-staff music teachers conduct every week for every classroom. We sang the Hello Song, the Goodbye Song, and about five other favorites from the current collection in between. There is also a play-along section in the middle where we get out a wide range of musical instruments and scarves.

Big Finish —

The music and dancing session was near the end, as usual. Singing the Goodbye Song was how the festival officially ended, as usual. Then, most of the families there helped to clean up and take down the decorations. Guess which ones were the most interesting to come down. The balloons, of course! All 200 balloons that did not pop in the process were claimed for trips home.

Everyone was excited about the event and talked about the next program-wide activity that was coming in just two months. It was, Winter Cultural Highlights!