With just a few weeks before the new school year begins, it’s time to enjoy an Avon ritual that appeals to the kid in all of us.
kicks off Thursday at with Family Night from 6 to 9 p.m. Rides will cost just one ticket each during Family Night, and tickets will be four for $5.
This is the first year the carnival is taking place over four days instead of three, said chairperson Joanne Sammon.
Brown Amusements Inc., which is providing the rides – Brown also provides the rides for – suggested the extra evening for the carnival, she said.
Besides the rides, highlights of this year’s carnival include game booths, a casino, musical entertainment, a cornhole tournament, a dinner sponsored by , and the Saturday 5 p.m. Vigil Mass on the Grass (weather permitting).
Carnival hours are 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday, 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, 1 to 11 p.m. Saturday, and 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday.
While the carnival is a fundraiser for the parish, its main emphasis is family and community togetherness, explained parish secretary Maryann Ksenich.
Parishioners and other community members not only attend the carnival, but work in many volunteer capacities before, during and after the event. Some work booths, some make cabbage and noodles, some help out with the bake sale, some sell raffle tickets.
Sammon, in her sixth year as chair, helped revive the carnival, which had been dormant for 35 years. The idea sprouted from a one-day, small-scale event she and other parents organized for kindergarteners and first-graders.
Sammon said she realized how valuable the carnival could be to the community after talking with some longtime neighbors of the church. They had fond memories of the carnival from their childhoods and were thrilled to see it return.
“I love doing this,” Sammon said. “I love to see the kids’ faces when they see their school transformed into a carnival.”
Although organizing the carnival requires a lot of work for Sammon and her committee, there is one thing that keeps her going in the crush of activity leading up to the carnival.
“My favorite reason for doing this,” she said, “is creating memories for the little ones.”
