Saturday’s the day for fun at the elementary carnival

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Charles City kids might want to spend some time Saturday evening at the high school.

They could win some valuable prizes, and even if they don’t, they might get a chance to throw a pie in the face of their favorite teacher — or maybe their least favorite.

The annual elementary school carnival will be held at Charles City High School gym and cafeteria Saturday evening, sponsored by the Elementary Parent Teacher Organization.

Tammy Quade of the PTO said the event is a way to thank the students and simply get everybody out of the house for some activity. There will be five inflatables and several games. Pizza Pete and his wife will bring DJ equipment for music and announcements.

Not only will kids get to throw pies at teacher’s faces, they can get their own faces painted or get a temporary tattoo.

There will be a cake walk — where folks donate small cakes and cupcakes for kids to win through games of musical chairs — and there will also be a concession stand that will have walking tacos, nachos, super nachos, hot dogs, drinks and popcorn.

“For each game they play and win they can choose between a piece of candy or a prize ticket,” Quade said. “If they choose a prize ticket they have to write their name on the back and take it down to the DJ table and turn them in. Every 10 minutes or so we announce a winner.”

Prizes will include a slice of pizza, cookie or donut from Casey’s, free bowling from the Comet Bowl, free ice cream from Dairy Queen, a free drink or slice of pizza from Kwik Star, and movie passes at The Charles Theatre.

“At the end of the evening we have two bicycles to give away as well,” Quade said. “Kmart sells them to us at cost.”

The event will start at 4:30 p.m. and last until 7 p.m. All funds raised from the raffle go back to the schools for field trips and school supplies. Quade said that usually around 200 students and parents attend.

“We usually average, after all costs, about $5,000 raised off the raffle sale, which usually is enough to pay for the busing for all field trips taken,” she said.

Quade said students have been selling raffle tickets for the last few weeks, and winners of the big prizes from the raffle — donated by local establishments — will be drawn at the end of the evening.

Prizes include a 50-inch smart TV, a Traeger Pellet Grill, Comet athletic passes for the 2019-20 school year, a six-month online subscription to the Charles City Press, a $50 Hy-Vee meat bundle, a $30 Fareway meat bundle and a car wash card for Mike Molstead Auto.

Quade said that raffle tickets will also be on sale at the event.