St. John’s Episcopal School’s annual Kooky Karnival will take center stage Oct. 28 at Barn D and E of the Ector County Coliseum.
St. John’s students get an early start from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. and the public can roam the attractions from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
The Karnival, with a theme of Super Mario, is organized by Friends of St. John’s and is a fundraiser for the school.
Kooky Karnival Chairman Zach Foster said admission is free, but there is a punch card system for games and the Ghostly Grocery Store where they can pick up prizes.
“Each prize costs a certain amount of punches. There’s a food booth and a smaller like candy snack type thing called the Creepy Cuisine. There is a cash payment for those items,” Foster said.
There will also be a cake walk.
Jersey Girl Pizza is returning this year and the Chuck Wagon Gang will help with the food booth this year, Head of School Heather Kirk and Foster said.
Foster said there will be a trailer in lieu of a St. John’s train, which is being built and donated to the school. It will be like a hay ride.
“… The train will make its first appearance next year …,” Foster said.
As for how many people will turn out, Kirk said they were pretty full last year. The event started off in the parish hall of the church and grew so much it now takes up two barns at the Coliseum.
“I think this year, we will expect several thousand,” she added.
Foster said he was “volunteered/voluntold” he would be good as chair this year. He had worked the event last year, but this will be his first time running it.
“Zach’s got a lot of energy. His personality lends to it as well,” Kirk said.
She added that Kookie Karnival takes a lot of physical energy, but also energy “that goes out and gets everybody else excited.”
A pep rally is coming up at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 26 at the school and there is also a cookout for the study body from the St. John’s School Board and Vestry.
Foster said they are also bringing in several spirit groups like the University of Texas Permian Basin cheer squad; Odessa College Blues dance team; and some of Panther Paws from Permian High School.
He added that there isn’t necessarily a spirit group like those at St. John’s.
“… The kids get to see and interact with some sort of cheer (groups) at the pep rally bringing in those other people,” Foster said.
Raffle tickets are on sale for $5 each and you can buy them at the event as well. You don’t have to be present to win.
The first person drawn gets to pick what they get and so on.
Prizes include a Louis Vuitton purse, Yeti cooler, $500 Marriott gift card, $500 Southwest gift card, $1,000 Visa gift card, $1,000 Amazon gift card, $500 Best Buy gift card, Peak Green Mountain grill, an $1,100 value, a lifetime Texas resident combination hunting and fishing license and a Samsung 65-inch TV.
“We really do have good prizes, and we work hard at getting those so the tickets almost sell themselves,” Kirk said. “If anybody’s interested in purchasing a ticket, they find a St. John’s student, they can go to our Facebook page and message, or they can call the school and we’ll be happy to set them up.”
With the tickets, there are classroom competitions pitting teacher against teacher. When a classroom wins, they get to do something to the teacher like plaster them with Silly String, or a pie in the face.
One teacher will be water ballooned Thursday.
“The kids love it and we gather together as a school and then they get to watch. Each classroom gets a party. Anybody can win this one for the percentage of how many students and how many tickets they’ve brought in. They get a popcorn or Popsicle party,” Kirk said.
If they sell $60,000 worth of raffle tickets, Kirk will kiss a pig.
“I’ve got my pig and it’s not a little baby pig. …,” she said. “My brother in law raises pigs in Lamesa, so we’ll get a pig from their lot.”
She hasn’t kissed one yet.
The Karnival will raise more than the the $60,000. They have booth sponsors who will have their names on the booths and they donated for that. . Kirk said
Foster said he is excited and nervous about the upcoming event.
“I’m really excited because just seeing how it went last year from an outside looking in point of view is really fun, so I’m excited to see how it’s going to do this year and how I’ll be able to help it flow. Hopefully it goes just as good if not better than the previous years. But I have got more nervous as the time has dwindled down. It seems like you have forever and then the time runs out very, very quickly,” Foster said.
The Friends of St. John’s is a combination of combination of parents of students that attend St. John’s. Brooke Harper is the president this year and Foster said she’s been a big help.
Other parents that are on the Friends have also pitched in.
A silent auction will also be held.
Each basket has a specific theme such as a reading basket, game night or movie night, pets and barbecue/camping.
“Each class took a theme and each student brought something to contribute to the basket,” Foster said.
There are also other items that have been donated such as free tattoos or piercings from Sacrificial Needle and custom made fire pits.
“There’s some really cool stuff that people can bid on,” Foster said.
Kirk said a lot of the proceeds will go into the general fund to help purchase items the school needs.
“We need some new computers and we need to finish buying new projectors for the classrooms. We always are in need of carpet; replacing things that have worn out over the years,” Kirk said.
“We are 100% tuition driven. We do not accept funds from the government, state, or national. …,” Kirk said.
They are supported by their diocese, but not financially, so they have to hold these fundraisers to keep their tuition reasonable.
“It would be astronomical if we didn’t do these fundraisers. One thing I love about it is that it does go right back into the school,” Kirk said.
Foster added that while the Karnival helps the school, it’s also something the community can enjoy.
“… It gives a safe space where kids can come and enjoy a Halloween weekend event … There is security there — there’s DPS, ECISD police and OPD that will be at the event …,” Foster said.
Kirk added that there’s really good food, too.
