By Susan Dickson
Staff Writer

The McDougle Elementary PTA is trying a little something different to raise money this year, with the first annual McDougle Fall Festival.

The festival – a fundraiser for the McDougle Elementary PTA – will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and will offer a wide range of activities to cater to the whole family.
“We decided to make it a family-friendly event and a community-building event,” said Paige O’Luanaigh, festival coordinator. In past years, the PTA has held a silent auction, which, said O’Luanaigh, was a good moneymaker but didn’t involve kids or many members of the community outside of the PTA.

This year’s fundraiser includes a silent auction, but that’s only a small piece of the festival, which will feature a cakewalk, face painting, a haunted house, miniature golf, a moon bounce, raffles and more.

“It’s a huge event that’s taken a lot of people to put together,” O’Luanaigh said.
NC Quest Martial Arts and Skipsations will perform at the festival.

For the raffle component, McDougle Elementary students have been selling $1 tickets for the past several weeks.

“It allows the kids to go out into the community and do more fundraising that doesn’t hit just the families of the students,” O’Luanaigh said.

The student who sells the most tickets wins a $50 Target gift card. Each day at school, teachers announced the winner for the previous day.

“[The kids] are all over it,” O’Luanaigh said. “It’s been fascinating to watch.”
Raffle prizes include a Nintendo Wii, an iPod Nano, a $100 Best Buy gift certificate, a bike and set of Harry Potter books.

Those who don’t want to take their chances at the raffle can bid on silent auction items, which include restaurant gift certificates, golf course green fees and more.

Children who want to participate in a raffle can do so for just 25 cents. PTA members and McDougle classes put together themed baskets full of goodies, which will be given away in the raffle.

“[The festival] gives us a lot of different opportunities to bring in money,” O’Luanaigh said. “Each little piece has been a big piece.”

The PTA will also sell 25-cent tickets that can be used to participate in the different carnival games and activities.

“I truly think it’s going to be very successful,” she said.

So far the students and carnival ticket pre-sales have brought in about $10,000.

Although about half of that will cover event costs, O’Luanaigh expects that costs will decrease for future festivals.

“This is our first year, so we had to create a lot of these games and buy supplies,” she said.

The festival will be held Saturday at McDougle Elementary, rain or shine.