More Than Fair (10-26-09)

I don’t know what it is about small town fairs, but for me anyway, they are simply spectacular.

This week, I had a chance to enjoy a small town fair of a different sort: a book fair. For the last several years, our awesome grade school librarian, Kathy Hofstetter, scheduled, ordered, set-up, ran, and tore down a Scholastic Book Fair. Now, if you have never attended one of these events, they require a lot of work. Scholastic Books sends a semi load full of large metal rolling carts as well as several dozen boxes. The carts are hinged and once opened, can be positioned end-to-end creating an instant bookstore. The boxed books, CD’s, school supplies, and other items then fill many tables.

The running of the fair requires many helpers, both to check out customers, but also to answer questions, tidy the shelves, and make sure nothing accidentally disappears. There are thousands of items for sale, and running the fair is quite an undertaking.

This year, Mrs. Hofstetter was needed once more in the classroom. When Scholastic Books called, asking if we wanted to host another fair, a decision had to be made. Either we would have to cancel, or we would have to find another dedicated soul to make it happen.

Enter Dru Potter, PTO president and dedicated volunteer. When she heard about our plight, she didn’t hesitate. She agreed for our Parent-Teacher Organization to host the HCES Book Fair.

The Scholastic truck arrived with its huge payload of books. At this point, I must mention the role of our custodian, Duane Patterson. Not only did he unload the truck, but also he found room for the mountain of stuff until we could free our conference room/board room/milk room/storage room/concession stand for the fair.

Many weeks and several concession stands and one board meeting later, we finally had use of the room. The day we were to set up was also the high school’s turn to host league volleyball. Mrs. Potter graciously agreed for us to use her room for the concession stand that day, and both Mr. Patterson and Christy Foster worked hard to move the concession stand to a new one-day home.

The fair began first thing Monday morning, when teachers came through to make out their “wish lists.” During the day, they brought their students to the fair to browse and make their own lists. Vicky Wagoner, another dedicated volunteer gave up an entire day to sit in the room and give tours to the eager groups.

Then, the fair was open for business during the Parent Teacher conferences Monday and Tuesday evenings.

Of course, the book fair isn’t just about books. Scholastic also provides a plethora of pencils, fun eraser, and other little knick-knacks that appeal to the younger crowd So on Wednesday, Dru Potter gave up her entire day to sit in that room while students trickled in and out to get this or that.

My wife Tonia accepted a big role in keeping the books. She worked late into the evening Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday calculating our profits and our share of free merchandize.

On Thursday, I met with the teachers at the fair and for one last day as they picked out free books the PTO had given to them. I then met with Mary-Ann Keith for about for the library to pick out their free books.

All in all, we earned about $3500.00 dollars, and received for our effort just under $2000.00 in free merchandise. The teachers received $35 in free items, the PTO collect over $400 in free books for their end of the year “Bingo for Books” event, and our grade school library received a cool $1000 in free books.

On Saturday, Dru, Tonia and Vicki met to close up the carts and refill the boxes (though there was a lot of empty boxes by the time it was over!) Duane will wheel it all back into the gym, where it will sit in storage until Scholastic picks it all up in early November.

I have never been prouder to be part of PTO, and I encourage all parents to join. This event was a monumental undertaking, but thanks to the hard work of the many volunteers and HCES staff, our fair was more than fair: it was spectacular!