Carnival In The park a Success
Eric Ortner
North Buffalo Rocket / West Side Times
Carnival In The Park's Organizer, Michelle Stevens, launches a Wishing Dove (homing pigeon). The Wishing Doves were a fundraiser at the carnival for school #36 photo: Eric Ortner
The Buffalo Public Schools Carnival in the Park was once again an enormous success. Michelle Stevens, the event's coordinator was rather disappointed with the weather on Saturday, May 20, 2000. However, this year more money was raised for the various schools' Parent/ Teacher organizations than was raised in last year's event.
Twenty-six schools participated in the Carnival. Many of them were housed in the covered porch of Marcy Casino. Michelle Stevens said on Saturday, "I bet we've had five or six thousand people come through here and it's only two. There are still two more hours to go."
It was very difficult to get an accurate read on how many people were at the Carnival in the Park because the activities were spread out in a lot of different locations. However, everywhere a booth was set up, there was a crowd.
City Honors Students should receive special appreciation due to the hard work that they exhibited throughout Carnival in the Park. The students were more than willing to help set up the event. Their terracotta pot-painting booth was one of the biggest hits at the Carnival.
Michelle Stevens commented, "There isn't a district of the city that won't be touched by this fund raiser in some way."
Local businesses have been particularly helpful. Michelle commented that they were all very willing to donate supplies and funding wherever needed.
Because of Saturday's inclement weather, there were some materials left over. On Monday Michelle Stevens explained, "We're still negotiating with some of the supplies and stuff that we had to pay for; I am selling off the surplus. We had a lot of Coca Cola, but Marcy Casino and the caterer helped me out with a lot of the leftover supplies. Once again the local businesses are stepping up and helping us out by purchasing the leftover supplies. It's still early at this point, but I would feel comfortable saying that we made $17,000."
The first Carnival in the Park brought in $10,000. So this year's total almost doubles last year's. Michelle Stevens stated on Saturday, that now people will have to take the parent based organizations seriously. By raking in even more money this year, she has proven herself correct.
