Fair

On Saturday, March 31 Columba College held the annual Columba Fair, which is a fund raiser for the school.  The head convener of the Columba Fair is Jennifer, a Texan of considerable skill in the organization, delegating, and baking departments.  Her ability to run a well oiled fund raising machine has become the stuff of legend in Dunedin.  This year's fair has raised a considerable amount of money that will go, in part, to finding equipment for the new science lab.

How do you organize a school fair in New Zealand that makes a considerable amount of money?  You make sure the fair has . . .

A petting zoo, 

a plant and herb stall, 

a tombola (raffle),

fresh produce, 

an Easter tent, 

something to keep the Board of Trustees busy, 

kid games,

kid games that allow kids to hit things, 

and hit more things, 

a book sale,

cheerful volunteers, 

sheep,

plastic fish in bags of water,

friendly greeters,

sheep dogs (Hello, Teddy!),

egg decorating contests,

games of skill (like sock toss), 

an International Foods tent*,

the obligatory bouncy castle,

Scottish bagpipers,

bungie jumps, 

really good coffee,

a dunking booth,

well loved toys,

sweets,

a "sausage sizzle,"

a high dive tank,

head prefects, giant (visible) rabbits, and cute children with whistles,

well loved junk,

well loved clothing (piles of it!),

"Pick-a-Stick,"

a silent auction, . . . 

. . . and much, much more. So, in order to have a successful fund raising school fair, it really boils down to three key ingredients:

1. Extraordinary Leadership (Jennifer)

2. An army of volunteers, and 

3. An extraordinary leader's spouse (Will)

*The International Foods tent featured "New Orleans Gumbo" which took me aback somewhat.  Sometimes I forget that we are "foreigners."