Black Bear Fest roaring back to life
WARSAW – After a one year break, River View’s Black Bear Fest is ready to roar back to life.
“People were asking about it and our school board felt it was a positive event to promote the school district,” said Renee Anderson, secretary to the superintendent of River View Local School District.
Black Bear Fest will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 7, at the River View Main Campus on State Route 60 North.
Students from preschool through high school will have their academic work on display in the gymnasium at the high school where there also will be an art show with pieces from mostly junior high and high school students and inflatables.
“The kids get so excited about this because our goal is to display work by everyone at the elementary level,” Anderson said.
The high school library will host an international fair and in the cafeteria area attendees will find a concession stand, cotton candy, face painting, a booth manned by the Citizens for River View sharing information on the district’s new elementary school building project and musical entertainment.
“The musical entertainment will be elementary students who have been practicing with their recorders and the rest of it will be high schoolers because our junior high kids will be at a competition that day,” Anderson said.
The elementary recorders performance will be at 10 a.m., the Caribbean Band will perform at 11 a.m., the Jazz Band at noon and the pep band at 1 p.m.
Another highlight of the event is the dunk tank located near the vocational agriculture department. For a small fee people can take a crack at dunking Union/Warsaw Principal Sherri Lawrence at 10 a.m.; Union Sixth Grade Teacher Mark Hogue at 10:30 a.m.; Junior High Assistant Principal Brad Baker at 11 a.m.; Superintendent Dalton Summers at 11:30 a.m.; High School Assistant Principal Josh Branch at noon; and Keene Fifth/Sixth Grade Teacher and Cross Country Coach Gwenna Neal at 12:30 p.m.
“In the past our Relay for Life team ran the dunk tank, but this year all the money raised from it is going to help our sixth graders go to Camp Ohio in the fall,” Anderson said. “They (the sixth graders) are going to run it and the money collected will be split amongst the kids.”
Near the dunk tank people also will find snow cones, pony rides by Triple R Stables, the FFA plant sale and possibly a petting zoo manned by them and vehicles on display by the Walhonding Valley Fire Department and Coshocton County EMS. Anderson said the junior high student council also is planning on doing activities in this area that have to do with safety issues.
New to the event is the Kick It kick ball tournament.
“Our teen leadership class (at the high school) taught by Stephanie Snyder is brand new this year and is all about leadership skills, communication skills and community service,” Anderson said. “Each month they plan something different and they are doing the tournament for their project this month.”
Teams of nine can be entered in the tournament for $10 and registered at www.river-view.k12.oh.us.
“The tournament will be at the softball field and they will sell t-shirts, have a concession stand and all money raised will go to pediatric cancer research,” Anderson said.
Everything during Black Bear Fest is free unless you want to purchase food at one of the concession stands or t-shirts any of the groups participating might be selling.
“Anything we do for Black Bear Fest is through donations,” Anderson said. “Nothing comes out of the school district’s funds, but for Triple R Stables doing the pony rides we give a donation back to their Higher Hopes program.”
This is the eighth year for Black Bear Fest and Anderson is glad to see it back.
“It showcases our district and we decided we needed to keep a positive thing going,” she said.
Anderson also wanted to give special thanks to the Frontier Power Company, McWane Ductile, Domino’s Pizza, RVHS Student Council, River View Junior High Student Council, Conesville PTO, Keene PTO, Union PTO, Warsaw PTO, River View Music Department, and the Black Bear Fest Committee.
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
Category: Education
