The return of Barstow’s biggest event, Harvest Festival, is here!
One of Barstow’s most anticipated events, Harvest Festival, is back this year with old and new attractions!
Mr. Dan McNickle, Barstow’s Executive Director of Summer, Extended Care, and Community Relations, has been the head coordinator for this event for over a decade. He works with a committee of Barstow parents, Lindsay Dutton, Megan Holmes, Susan Knaebel, Anna Raccuglia and Terri Patel, to organize Harvest Fest starting all the way back in July.
Six bounce houses will be aired up for this year’s festival. However, “big kids” need not to worry if they’re going to be excluded, according to Mr. Dan. The activities are divided up by age group this year, so they’ll still get to enjoy the thrill of inflatable obstacle courses that may prove challenging without having to watch out for the little ones.
The addition of the second driveway has allowed for the committee to bring in more food trucks to help mitigate the long waiting lines they’ve had in the past. This year, there will be seven food trucks, with an additional donut truck, parked along the driveway for festival goers to enjoy, which helps make up for the loss of wagon rides and the petting zoo.
The athletic games, face painting, tattoo artist, pumpkin decorating, dunk tank, are all returning this year. The raffle winners at this year’s festival will get to pie Mr. Dan in the face, so make sure to snag a ticket if you want a chance!
The most influential change made to Harvest Fest was its transition from Fall Festival inside the Brookfeild and Varsity Gyms to being outside, “It’s given us so much more room to work with, and it makes the event truly feel like a festival,” he says.
Another fundamental change to the success of the festival was the switch from additional ticket purchases to win prizes to an all-inclusive package. This way, volunteers can avoid having to break the hearts of children who don’t understand why their lack of tickets meant they couldn’t win a prize.
Mr. Dan’s favorite part about the whole process is the culmination of his work, the day of the festival, “Being able to put on my comfort boots and walk around with a bull horn to signal events starting and seeing the kids flood the west side of campus is so awesome,” he reflects.
In between hours of fall fun and soccer games will be the grand opening of the Foster Athletic Center. This project is the last of several upgrades made to Barstow’s athletic complex, thanks to an anonymous donor.
The building itself cost 3.5 million dollars and is complete with a dance and pilates studio, a press box, two locker rooms, a concession stand, three golf simulators and a putting green, meeting rooms, trophy cases, bathrooms, garage doors that open for a perfect upper-level view of the soccer field, and a chandelier.
Mr. Robert Wynne, Barstow’s head of security, has been with the project from start to finish. From the end of last summer, he’s been responsible for meeting with the contractors and overseeing the logistics and financials alongside Ms. Elizabeth Bartow and Mrs. Chloe Friesema ‘11.
Despite there being a few hiccups with laying the foundation and some inconveniences, the building process went smoothly. The construction teams have worked really hard since the spring to get it up and running by the time of its grand opening.
Instead of running North-South like originally planned, the school chose to go along with the plan presented in the design-build process to have the building face Graves Family Stadium in order to better tie the baseball field into the athletic complex.
“I’m looking forward to the student body having a better experience of outdoor sports here at Barstow,” says Wynne. The addition of the F.A.C. will bring a draw to spectatorship to those games, and the players themselves will get to enjoy a state-of-the-art venue with closer locker and bathroom facilities.
While these things will impact all outdoor sports, Mr. Wynne thinks that baseball will receive the biggest benefit. Now that they have a new parking lot alongside the amenities in the F.A.C., he hopes baseball fans will be more likely to show up and support their Knights!
We hope to see a huge turnout for all of the events on Friday! Be sure to purchase your tickets and plan on staying late to support the boys after the grand opening as they take on Cristo Rey!
