Last weekend Mount Carmel Elementary School hosted their yearly Wild West Days festival, drawing in thousands of festival-goers. The excitement welcomed preschoolers, middle schoolers, and high schoolers from all over the Bay Area.
The entire weekend, Mount Carmel was filled with festival rides, entertainment, and food.
The fundraiser is a three-day event intended to raise money for the school. Additionally, the event provides people with the opportunity to meet others and create lasting memories.
For the 2019 festival, bands played throughout the weekend and an estimated 5,000 families made an appearance.
“This has been going on for a long time. I have been here for five years and my coach has been here for 15,” said Shane McLaughlin, a Mount Carmel parent and the master of ceremonies for the event.
Due to the array of bands and rides, the families were involved and never ran out of activities to do.
“I get to run the entertainment with my friend, so we invite bands to come to play and perform. Performers in our community donate their time and talent and it really creates a nice vibe for the event,” McLaughlin said. “This event is one of the biggest fundraisers for our school and it’s a great time for people to have fun and enjoy games while supporting the school and getting out on a Sunday.”
Many of the festival booths hosted small toss games while ice cream trucks stopped by and entertained the attendees while promoting camaraderie throughout the community.
“My daughter is still in preschool in Palo Alto. This event is nice because a lot of stuff in the Bay Area tends to end up sort of segregated and it’s cool to have an event that is open to everyone from the community,” said Brian Rice, a festival attendee.
The Wild West Days festival had an exceeding turn out and not only benefitted Mount Carmel but helped the community bond.
“It does a great job of bringing the community together. There are Saint Hayes people here, there are Sequoia people here, and there are people from all over because we really want to promote that this is a community event,” McLaughlin said. “Everyone shows up to make the community work well and it doesn’t matter where you go to school or even where you live, people come from outside of Redwood City, and that’s important.”
