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Pre-Halloween festival brings family fun to Mooney
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Peggy Moore, an English teacher at Cardinal Mooney High School, reads “My New Neighbors” by Keith Faulkner to her grandson, Brennen Sanata, 5, on Sunday during Fall Fun Fest.
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Two-year-old Parker McBride is a bit too young to comprehend the straightforward rules of cornhole, though he was old enough to appreciate the finer art of improvisation.
“He made his own game,” said Parker’s cousin, Kayla Shaffer, a Cardinal Mooney High School senior, after the boy was face down on the platform pressed next to the hole intended for bean bags.
Sheer curiosity apparently got the better of Parker, who was dressed in a shark outfit and who seemed content to spend a few minutes peering through the hole. He also was among the youngsters and adults who enjoyed the offerings at Sunday’s first Fall Fun Fest at Mooney.
The three-hour family-friendly gathering had a slew of games and activities such as a pumpkin catapult, face and pumpkin painting, storytelling and fishing with magnetized poles, noted Peggy Moore, event chairwoman. In addition, some attendees took part in a contest challenging them to guess a large pumpkin’s weight, as well as the number of pieces of candy corn in a jar, said Moore, who also teaches English, drama and journalism at the school.
Kayla, who plans to attend Youngstown State University to become a special-education teacher, helped Parker paint a door hanger and a few other small items. The two also enjoyed each other’s company, she added.
Accompanying them was Kayla’s mother, Lori Shaffer of Youngstown, who performs assembly work for ACI Group in Boardman.
While Parker may have spent time close to the ground, other children such as 3-year-old Vincent Polkovitch of Canfield were intrigued with things flying through the air.
Vincent received an introduction to a 4-foot wooden trebuchet, a mechanical device that relies on a raised counterweight to toss a projectile. In this case, the objects being thrown were small pumpkins.
“I did my class project on catapults, and I learned about a trebuchet and catapults, so I wanted to help the kids learn about it,” Mackenzie Compton, a Mooney senior, said, referring to her advanced-placement physics class.
Also overseeing the activity was Ray Marks, a six-year Mooney physics and biology teacher.
Several children, some of whom were in various costumes, got an early taste of Halloween when Moore read “My New Neighbors,” a humorous Halloween story by Keith Faulkner. Moore’s audience consisted of her 5-year-old grandson, Brennen Sanata, 5, a kindergartener at Lincoln Elementary School in Warren.
Joining Brennen in the reading activity was his mother, Mary Sanata.
“I think it was cool,” a confident 8-year-old McKenna Sweeney said about the story.
McKenna, a third-grader at St. Charles School in Boardman, said the Faulkner story got her a little more prepped for Halloween, when she plans to dress as a genie. Another source of excitement is a Halloween party and parade Thursday at her school, said McKenna, who listed riding her bicycle, playing with friends and engaging in art as her favorite activities.
Also enjoying the story’s humor mixed with drama was McKenna’s mother, Marnee Sweeney.
The fun fest is a result of Mooney’s Strategic Planning Committee’s desire to bolster bonds between the school and the feeder parishes that support it, officials have said.
Also, the event was open to neighborhood children, many of whom volunteered to assist with reading stories and other aspects of the fest, Moore said.