Fun fairs give N. Aurora schools an extra boost

Cake walks, Bozo buckets, goldfish in plastic bags, homemade games and Wii and iPod raffles filled elementary school fun fairs in North Aurora this winter.

Schneider's PTO put together a "Let's Play" theme for its fun fair in February with a board game theme and a cake walk with a Candy Land theme and 60 cakes.

Fearn's PTA decorated the school's hallways and classrooms with a medieval theme for its "Fun Faire 2008," also held last month.

Now Goodwin takes its turn this week as the school's PTA unveils its "Day at the Races" NASCAR theme from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at 18 Poplar St.

Goodwin PTA parent Brenda English is in charge of the "Pit Stop" at the fair, where they will serve nachos, pizza, hot dogs and drinks.

She said that the black-and-white checkered flags are already decorating the hallways and that each classroom has a NASCAR drawing that includes drawings and pictures from everyone in the class.

"We get a large turnout from teachers helping out every year. Kids love seeing teachers outside the classroom," English said. "It's a fun-filled day for the kids with games all over the school."

The money raised from the event will help make the school's teacher wish lists come true at the end of the school year.

Co-chairs Deb Mickelson and Aimee Becker enjoyed their first year of running the annual event at Schneider School.

"It was our first year and we had so much fun. We were so excited we already signed up to do it again next year," Mickelson said.

Mickelson said that the school's PTO pays for field trip transportation for the year and their goal was to raise the $4,200 to cover that expense.

She said that the event this year exceeded $7,000 in profits.

"The school district said that we needed to promote the event in both English and Spanish. We had a huge turnout with bilingual parents in attendance," Mickelson said. "I think this helped us make so much money this year."

Mickelson and Becker had fun creating new game for this year's fun fair.

"We found a cute stuffed chicken and wanted to do something with it," she said. "We invented a Dunk the Cluck game and put the chicken in a sling shot. The little kids did better at the game than the taller kids."

Over at Fearn Elementary, parent Stacey Miller was in charge of getting raffle prizes for the school's PTA fair.

She and her raffle co-chair, Liz Bancroft, were on a mission this year to find a Wii for the raffle event.

"As luck would have it we each found one on the same day. So one went in the raffle and the other one went in the silent auction," Miller said.

North Aurora police officer Robyn Stecklein operated the speed gun at the fast pitch booth at each of the fun fairs.

Stecklein said she routinely donates $15 to $20 in each of the school's raffles. She came out on top at Fearn this year when her name was drawn for an i-Pod Shuffle.

Miller said some of the $4,000 the Fearn PTA raised at the event will most likely go toward getting window blinds for some of the sunnier classrooms in the school.

Miller spoke for all the fun fair chairs when she said it's never too early to get prizes and donations for next year.

"If you have anything you want to donate for our raffle, we'll take it now and save any donations for next year," she promised.