Paddlewheeler Becomes a Heights Tradition
By Nathan Ward, 1st-grade parent
This year?s Paddlewheeler Festival on April 2nd not only lived up to last year?s debut but kicked it up a notch. Last year?s festival was our maiden voyage, a chance for the curious to scope out the school and have a good time. This year, with the cafeteria again festooned with dangling sea creatures, and the auditorium decked with long-tailed mermaids and stubbly pirates, the festival earned its place as an ongoing Heights tradition like the Pierrepont Playground Easter Egg hunt, perhaps, or the Cranberry Street Festival.
The Paddlewheeler, like its revitalized school, has in two short years arrived. ?I thought the Paddlewheeler was fabulous, even with the rain,? enthused the Brooklyn Heights Association?s Judy Stanton, a longtime PS 8 advocate, ?and the spirit in the school was even warmer than last year.?
The daylong drizzle did not prevent some 130 volunteers from devoting much of their Saturday to the school, filling over 200 job slots. ?I thought it was a fantastic community day,? said parent-volunteer Laura Mardiks, noting that at this year?s book fair, ?of the $5,000 sold in books, $1,100 was in wish list books that are already in the teachers? classrooms. From the profits from the book fair, the classroom teachers will receive $100 vouchers to purchase more books! I call that a successful day.?
The fair got an extra boost with volunteers from the YMCA after school program. The Y volunteers along with a team of teenaged "Praise Dancers" from a nearby church choir helped the festival run seamlessly.
This year?s entertainment included several homespun acts: a concert by PS 8?s wonderful choir (directed by Ms. Martin) ended with a surprise rendition of ?Happy Birthday? complete with a cake for Principal Seth Phillips; children?s singer Audra Tsanos performed before a bouncing junior mosh pit; retro-vaudevillians Steve Rongold and Professor Winklebottom made a pratfalling segue into Jeff Newell and the PS 8 Parents Band, who rounded out the afternoon with ?Camp Town Races.?
Meanwhile, in the gym/cafeteria, our team of professional photographers snapped ?underwater? portraits of students decked out as sea creatures and dressed up in nautical garb. Nearby, parent volunteers plied visitors with a lavish spread of food, most of it donated by local businesses. Everything from bagels, cheese, and pastries, pasta, sausage and peppers, BBQ, rice and beans, coffee and soft drinks and fabulous cookies all from Starbucks, Noodle Pudding, Palmiras, El Cubanito Cafe, Pig N' Out, Cranberrys, Lassen & Hennigs, Starbucks and Peas ?N Pickles. The feast was coordinated by first grade-teacher Greg Williamson and P.S. 8 parent Alice Terson.
Fourth-graders sold candy bars to raise approximately $400 to protect endangered species, while the 5th graders raised money for a class trip to Washington, D.C. Proceeds from their bake sale and PS 8 Cookbook together brought in $967. ?By adding the bake sale and the PS 8 Chorus every grade in the school was represented in some way,? said PTA Treasurer Diane Miller. ?That made this year?s Paddlewheeler even better.?
Another new feature was the silent auction. Parents, friends, and businesses from around the community contributed 74 items in all, ranging from a Jhane Barnes tuxedo and Prince tennis racquets to one-month memberships at Eastern Athletic Club, two tickets to "The Daily Show," and even a Tour of Borough Hall and lunch with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz (who, incidentally, made an ebullient appearance in the auditorium and the cafeteria). The auction?s competitive bidding continued right up until the 2:30 cut-off, with one-hour massages and ?Daily Show? tickets among the most sought-after prizes. According to parent-volunteer Michael Rothenberg, ?The auction brought in almost $4,500. Thanks to the Executive Board for being willing to try it and a special thanks to Lisa Lewis and Christi Lind for all their help making it happen.?
A few days later, preliminary numbers were in: the Paddlewheeler Festival earned nearly $15,357. After expenses, PS 8's PTA earned $12,000 for enrichment programs and supplies ? and our community gained a vibrant new tradition.
Posted on: May 5, 2005
