NORTHAMPTON — Perched on the seat above a tank of water and prepared to get wet again, John Provost, superintendent for Northampton’s public schools, noticed one student who continued to get in the line to throw balls at the dunking booth’s target.
“You’re my best customer,” Provost observed as 10-year-old Charlie Ames began taking aim with the first of his three balls. “He’s spent about $100 today,” Provost quipped.
For Charlie, a fifth grader at Jackson Street School, the appeal of the dunk tank was nothing personal against Provost. Rather, Charlie was trying to exceed his 2017 success.
“I was the dunk champion last year and wanted to break my record this year,” said Charlie, as he participated in Sunday afternoon’s School Local Northampton Carnival, an event that brought hundreds of children and their families to the fields at John F. Kennedy Middle School during Sunday’s cool and cloudy first day of autumn.
The event, previously a project of the Jackson Street School Parent-Teacher Organization, expanded with a partnership between School Local Northampton and the PTOs at each of the city’s schools. It featured 20 hand-made carnival games, several bounce houses, face painting and temporary glitter tattoos stations, community organziation tables — including the Northampton Survival Center and Northamopton Education Foundation — and other celebrities on the dunk tank. These included Jo Comerford and Lindsay Sabadosa, the Democrats set to become the next state senator and state representative, respectively, for Northampton.
“The fundamental objective is to promote public school enrollment, let the community know about the quality of schools and show them how vibrant and welcoming Northampton is,” said Bill Scher, president of School Local Northampton and a Bridge Street School parent.
Scher said this message is conveyed in a brochure given to each family buying tickets for the carnival games. The publication provides facts such as the average class size being 16 students and teacher-student ratio being 12 to 1, that the high school produces the highest number of advanced placement qualifying scores in the Pioneer Valley and is ranked eighth in the state, and that two-thirds of children in the city are able to walk or bike to school.
Summer Cable, co-president of the Jackson Street School PTO, said the carnival started in 2015, and by expanding it everyone could come together for a fun day that would raise money for the various PTOs. “We decided we wanted to make it more inclusive of the entire Northampton community,” Cable said.
Cable said the carnival games are aimed at children ages 5 to 12, with some sensory based, such as Snout Scout where children would reach through a drawing of a pig’s nostrils to grab objects, and others skill-based games like Balloon Burst, tossing bean bags to pop balloons on a wall, Frog Jump, where a large hammer was used to hit one side of a seesaw contraption land a toy frog in a lily pad, and TP Toss, where toilet paper needed to be thrown through a toilet seat.
Children earned points that they could turn into prizes, ranging from volcano and dinosaur putty, Lego sets, beanie boos and pocket sports games.
At Straw Paw, where kids had to find objects in a haystack, 6-year-old Phoebe Chapman, a first grader at Jackson Street, crawled to find items hidden below. “A good time” is how Phoebe described her afternoon.
The points she accumulated allowed her to get airheads and lollipops, as well as a small pink toy monkey she held in her hand.
Buzzwire, a version of the board game Operation, was a fun game for Lucy Houle, 5, a kindergartner at Jackson Street School.
“Currently she’s on games and on her way to the bounce houses,” said her mother, Greater Mutsikwi-Houle.
Mutsikwi-Houle said she came to the carnival to be part of the community and show her support for the schools.
Lori Engel of Florence was with her children, Zoe, a sixth grader, and Adam, a fourth grader.
“It’s great to see such a good turnout,” Engel said. “We’re happy to support it.”
In line for the version of Plinko, Adam said the carnival was “cool.” “It’s fun so far,” Zoe said.
Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz stopped by and noticed just how many families and students were on hand, either playing the games, volunteering their time or socializing. He said such an event benefits the schools.
“This is a great way to promote our public schools,” Narkewicz said.
School Local’s next step, Scher said , is to get information to others who come in contact with young families, such as employers, realtors and adoption agencies, and get the word out to families who might be considering sending their children elsewhere.
“We’re in a school choice environment, and if we’re not telling people accurate, positive information about our schools, no one is going to do it,” Scher said.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
