A few familiar sights at the Allen County Fair are the food stalls that are run by several local schools. It's not just serving food that keeps them running year after year but raising money, and who that money goes towards.
If you ask the staff at the Bath School Wildcat Den what they support through their fair fundraiser, they'll be able to give you quite a list.
"We have the Kathy Wangler Memorial Scholarship - we award one or two scholarships, $1000 a year; we sponsor books for all the third graders, teachers' classrooms, basically any teachers or sports organizations," said Crystal Braun, Bath Parent Teacher Society president. "We've helped sponsor the uniforms for the band, so school things that they can come and request money for."
They join Perry, Elida, Spencerville, and Allen East in raising money to go towards academics and extracurriculars at their respective schools.
It's a tradition to put on these food and drink stalls around the fair, and also to get the students themselves involved. If you stop by one of these stands, you may see students from the schools working a shift. Whether they're a student athlete or a member of the band, they say that the support from these fundraisers plays a big part in being able to do what they love while in high school.
"It feels really good to work for the booth because the boosters do do a lot for us, especially being involved in so many athletics," said Bryce James, a junior at Perry High School. "They do support us a lot and give us lots of donations, so it does feel good to work for them and give back."
Of course, not having a full fair last year did put a damper on their fundraising efforts, but that has only encouraged these schools to come back this year and continue to support what makes their schools so great.
"Last year kind of hit us a little hard, but we’re still supporting the schools and we had a little backup," said Braun. "We’re happy to be back here at the fair this year to put money back in and support all of our teachers and students."
