Trois Ono
On the 29th of April, Saint Maur held its annual food fair. The coronavirus pandemic prevented its happening for three years and the Saint Maur community could not have been any happier to celebrate its return. Anyone was welcome on school grounds and so the entire campus was crowded which was quite an unusual experience considering the fact that we only have 500 students.
As usual, students were required to work a minimum of four hours on this day at their grade’s assigned booths. Among the most popular were the face painting booth, the bouncy house, and the water balloon booth. The face painting booth was led by the visual arts director, Ms. Littani, and as usual, had long lines of eager children awaiting a pleasant experience with some of our most talented art students. The students painted colorful designs as requested by the customers but also took part in the pokemon campaign, introduced this year by Ms. Littani. It was a hit with customers of all ages as pokemon is a universally cult favorite game and franchise. One of the young artists says “It was a really fun experience but sometimes I was a little intimidated by the pokemon and other requests I got.”
Many of the game booths saw customers rush in from 9 in the morning. One of which was the water balloon booth, led by the juniors. There was a limited supply of balloons and they were able to sell out, accumulating a total profit of around 60,000 yen.
Throughout the day, the secondary school jazz band and the Honor Jazz band provided the visitors a lively soundtrack. They even had former music director, Mr. Griggs, perform alongside them on the cajon. The variety of pop tunes was enjoyed by tourists just walking by.
The day ended with the announcement of the raffle prize winners. Many students and equally, many parents, were filled with excitement for the results. Though many did not achieve their desired results, they were still seen laughing with each other, congratulating those who won. An anonymous visitor exclaims, “The raffle prizes were definitely an upgrade this year so I’m not too surprised that I lost. But it would’ve been nice to have won that PS5.”
Food Fair was a massive success and its comeback demonstrated the importance of these school events in connecting the external community with Saint Maurdians. It served as a reminder that the people’s strong desire to spend time together at Food Fair, not just for the delicious food but also for a sense of camaraderie, remained strong despite the global pandemic.
Trois Ono