MRE Halloween Carnival is set
By Ashley Shah
Miramar Ranch Elementary School (MRE) will hold its annual Halloween Carnival on Oct. 19.
The carnival will be held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the MRE campus.
“The entire community is encouraged to come. The more people the better,” carnival Chairman Kevin Werner said.
The event will have carnival games, a haunted house and other activities.
“Every year, we try to introduce new things. Last year, we introduced a ‘witch nose picking’ game, which was a success. This year, we will be introducing another new game, which will be a surprise,” Werner said. “After playing the carnival games, the kids will either be able to redeem a ticket at the prize booth, or will receive a consolation prize like candy.”
The carnival’s haunted house will have a preview night for MRE students on Friday, Oct.18 at the elementary school.
“The haunted house is run by our fifth graders. They will be setting it up and performing in it. The preview is paid. During the carnival, you will use carnival tickets to get in. The haunted house serves as a fundraiser for their end of the year graduation party,” Werner said.
There is no entry ticket needed to get into the carnival. However, for carnival games and other activities, tickets will be used.
“The tickets are about $1.25 each. You can buy them at the carnival, or pre-order online. We accept cash, debit or credit card, and PayPal,” Werner said.
In addition to the carnival games and the haunted house, there will be some new activities.
“We will have laser tag, inflatable axe throwing, new things at the DJ booth,” Werner said.
However, some activities will carry on in tradition.
“This is our 51st carnival. We have been doing the Cake of Fortune since the beginning, and will be continuing that this year,” he said. “We assign a number to each kid, and then spin a wheel and whatever number it lands on, the kid with the number gets to pick out a cake from the cakes given to us by families at the school.”
There will also be a costume contest.
“All kids are encouraged to dress up in their costumes at the carnival,” Werner said.
Options for food will be available at the carnival as well.
“We are going to have a taco truck, Kona Ice, and New Break Church will be helping us out with our barbeque station as a low cost option,” Werner said. “This year, we will have a Dippin’ Dots station, which will be new.”
This carnival serves as the biggest fundraiser for MRE.
“Even though the carnival is only one day, we plan for it all year. We spend hours upon hours on it. We start making games and renting them in spring. We solicit donations in the summer. We put everything together in the fall to make this happen,” he said. “It’s a long process, but it’s well worth it. It is a heart-warming event to see everyone come together.”
More than 100 volunteers help out with this event.
“We do have around nine committee chairs for this event that really help to kick-start the carnival, such as the games chair, sponsor chair and more. In addition, we rely on the parents of the students to help out at the event,” Werner said. “But mainly, we have over 100 high school students that come and run the games and activities for the event. They are our lifeline. It is amazing to see alumni that come back to support the elementary school.”
Each year, the carnival has had a turnout of around 1,500 members of the community.
“We are always looking to have more members of the community join us,” Werner said.
For more information, visit halloween.miramarranch.org.