Eastside festival brings in $10,000

Hayden Jones, right, tries his luck at the basketball toss as teacher Stephanie George looks on. The mini-basketball game wasn?t quite as easy as it looked but the young athlete eventually sank a shot and took home a prize.

?Isn?t that great?? Byars said. ?It went really well.?

Byars said 350 meals were served at the festival and estimated the crowd at around 400 to 500 altogether.

Eastside principal Doug Reed, who gamely joined teachers in the dunking booth, said he felt the event was a great success, though he saw much of it from underwater.

?All I know about is the dunk tank,? Reed said. ?But the school festivals are always a blast, and the water temperature was just right. They had heated it up just for me and I had my long pants on.

?And I never pass up an occasion for a bath on a Friday night,? Reed added with a chuckle.

Byars said the dunking booth was definitely a big hit.

?That went great,? Byars said. ?The line was backed up all night to dunk them. That was something new that we did that turned out really good.?

Another hit, literally, was the car bash, where festival visitors could buy chances to bash a car with a sledgehammer.

?The car bash is always a big success,? Byars said. ?They stay lined up for that too.?

The event included a number of other great activities and games, including face painting, tattoos, removable of course, darts and balloons, basketball, baseball, a cardboard tunnel for the kids to go through and another major hit, the school?s take on a certain popular TV show, called Eastside Idol, which featured a number of talented students.

The money will be used to help the school in a variety of ways, according to Byars.

?We always give back to our teachers so they can purchase things to use in their classrooms,? Byars said. ?And we?re looking into purchasing some new technology items for the school, though what that will be hasn?t been decided yet.?

Byars says Eastside School and the Eastside PTO really appreciated the community?s participation and support at the event.

?We would like to thank everyone who came out that night and supported their school,? Byars said. ?We had lots of businesses that supported us and donated to our auction, and we would like to say thank you to all those as well.?