Picture this: the school’s lower lot is packed on a weekend, but instead of being filled with cars, it’s filled with people. On the sunny Saturday afternoon of Oct. 15, hundreds of members of the community and cluster schools gathered together for the annual Fall Festival.

To prepare for this event, senior class planning hosted a school-wide spirit week leading up to the 15th, with the themes groutfit day, “Zoom” day, class colors, jersey vs. Jersey Shore and green day for mental health awareness.

The event was filled with activities such as pumpkin painting, face paint, hair tinsel, and a bouncy house. “Pumpkin painting was so fun and it seemed like a lot of people enjoyed it,” pom and a capella member Jilli Nalibotsky said.

Other students said they thought face painting was the most successful, as it was busy. “Face painting had the most turnout,” 2023 Class President Max Choi said.

There was also a variety of performances, brought by the K-Pop dance club, Pon Poms, and a capella. “I loved seeing everyone get so excited to watch the performances I was in and it made me feel really glad I was there because everyone was supporting us and it was so much fun,” Nalibotsky said.

Choi agreed. “I was super happy to see the poms K-pop dance club and a capella come together to show all of their support for the event,” Choi said.

In addition to all of the performances, student groups found ways to get involved. The National Honors Society participated by doing “Trunk or Treat,” which consisted of cars being set up and decorated with candy being passed out from the trucks. “I loved getting to see different stations such as a club offering me henna on my hand, or the Common Sense newspaper handing out their latest copies,” junior Alexa Vinner said.

School staff members in attendance agreed that the event was a success. “I thought it went really well and that everyone worked great together and it was nice to see the participation from all of the different student groups,” Class of ‘23 adviser Lisa Young said.

In the upper lot and the field behind it there were backyard games to choose from such as cornhole and football, and a bouncy house for younger kids. “It was nice to take a break from the main crowd and play cornhole with my friends. The cornhole was right near the bouncy house, which had a long line of members from the community in elementary school,” Vinner said.

With all of the activities and performances, the community came together to form a large crowd, being much larger than people thought. “It was very busy. I think that we had a better turnout than most people anticipated,” Young said.

While the event lasted from 12 to 5 p.m., people generally only stayed for an hour or two as booths were constantly circulating through people. “From what I was told about 500-600 people came,” Choi said.