43
Carnival raises money for school
Event raises funds for school
BELOIT
He wasn’t going to go for it. There were crumbled Oreos, chocolate chips and several other trays full of tempting toppings.
But Dan Smith, a first-timer at the Partners in Education Carnival at Damascus Elementary School, wanted only chopped nuts on his caramel apple at the build-it-yourself booth.
It still looked mouth-watering — they swirled that caramel on pretty thick.
There were other traditional staples of the good old summertime carnival on hand — such as cotton candy, funnel cakes and french fries.
There also were plenty of traditional games, such as the ball toss in the fish bowls, the ring toss on the bottles, the bean-bag toss in the clown’s mouth and the putter-golf hole-in-one — plenty of opportunities to win yourself a prize.
There was a magic show, face-painting, a rock wall and a clown.
Smith was taking it all in with his granddaughter, Kylie, a kindergartner at Damascus.
Her favorite part of the day?
“The tank! I dunked two people,” she said, barely taking time from climbing the monkey bars to chat.
Who did she dunk? “Miss Blazer!”
That’s Cassie Blazer, a kindergarten teacher’s aide — teachers and coaches were sent to the dunking tank, said PIE president Jennifer Greeneisen — not a bad fate considering Saturday’s heat.
Next to the rock wall, the Damascus Fire Department had a unique attraction.
Wooden flames “blazed” in a wooden facade of a two-story house.
As children approached, Chief Derek Day, Capt. Cory Palmer and firefighters Ken Vernon and Tom Camp helped them train a firehose on the flames. The water knocked over the flames, and the fire was out.
Wyatt McDonald, 6, tried his hand at it. It felt pretty good, he said, to put the fire out.
As it turns out, the facade was built by Wyatt’s great-grandfather, Earl Mather, about five years ago, said Wyatt’s grandfather, Lee McDonald. Mather, who has since died, was on the Damascus volunteer department for more than 50 years, said Chief Day.
Greeneisen said the carnival, the PIE’s fifth, typically raises between $5,000 and $7,000. The money is used for technology, field trips and activities throughout the year.