On an early October Friday, where tests and quizzes are typically found, students will find streamers, balloons, and cotton candy. County Fair is a staple in the Parker calendar and has been for a long time, but even traditions change. Dunk tanks turn into therapy dogs, and trivia questions get rewritten, but the lyrics to the Farmer Fair song that 1st graders sing never change.
The day starts with the inaugural song sung by the first grade on the balcony of the second floor. Grape Jam then sings a few songs before the band takes it away. Afterwards, students are free to have fun and work their shifts.
Each grade puts together a different booth, and they are completely student-run. “First grade sings a song, second grade does bookmarks, 3rd grade does popcorn, fourth grade does board games, fifth grade does trivia, sixth grade does carnival mini-games, seventh grade does the obstacle course, eighth grade does face painting, ninth grade runs the gaga pit and tattoos, and the tenth grade is responsible for it all,” Brittany Ifft, an Upper School Integrated Learning and Informational Studies teacher and sophomore Grade Head, said.
“Every booth has a purpose,” Ifft said. Each booth also changes a little every year. The fifth-grade trivia booth questions are never the same and the fourth-grade board games booth used to be a maps booth. “Each booth needs to be flexible because we never know what will happen, and many times we have to call the day off, or the day before, if we are going to be inside or outside,” Ifft said.
“The weather was so horrific one year that all of our materials and supplies blew down Webster.” said Maureen Cuesta, a fourth-grade teacher.
“There is nothing better than a beautiful Fall October day to have County Fair. I just wish it would never rain on that day. The fair just isn’t the same when it is inside due to inclement weather,” JK teacher Tisha Johnson said. “For the past three years of County Fair, we have had to adjust plans based on weather conditions,” Ifft said. “It would not surprise me if we have to do it again this year.”
“County Fair is held together by its traditions, a little cotton candy, and all the love the sophomore grade can give it,” Ifft said. The sophomore class runs County Fair every year.
County Fair is unique. Johnson said that there is, “nothing quite like the County Fair!”
“I like County Fair, and I am excited to be involved,” sophomore Eva Jakobe said. “I feel like it is more catered to the younger community at Parker, but I am excited to help put it on,”
“My old school did not have anything like County Fair. It’s unique to Parker,” sophomore David Mendoza said.
“I’ve only taught at Parker. However, my elementary school in Massachusetts had an event they called a Fair, but the events were pretty different from Parker’s,” fifth grade teacher Jeff Stone said. “The only part I remember is guessing the correct number of jelly beans in a giant-gallon container and winning them all. It was memorable. The only thing I could really compare it to is perhaps winning an Olympic medal or some sort of sports Championship. Guessing the correct number of jelly beans in large containers is a skill or some may say a power I assume I still have to this day, though I never put it to the test after that life-changing experience. Didn’t want to break the streak. Still working my way through those jelly beans. If you answer trivia correctly at the Fifth Grade Trivia booth, you may be the lucky winner of a 40-year-old jelly bean.”
“I find the history of County Fair interesting and that it has been a continuing tradition for over a century!” Cuesta said. “It was my pleasure to run County Fair along with Xaio Xhang and the sophomore class, and I am thrilled to do it again this year,” Ifft said.
