Fiesta fun back at Warkworth School

Moonhopper racing, a gumboot and rubber chicken toss, and a No Added Sugar food stall are among the more unusual attractions lined up for Warkworth School’s annual Twilight Fiesta on Friday March 18.Activities will also include a Best Loved Bear competition, cupcake decorating and a Mystery Jar stall, where jars that have been filled by students with all sorts of tiny toys and treats are disguised with brown paper and then sold on, in a variation on the ‘lucky dip’ theme.

Food and drink on offer will include mussel fritters by Cafe Q, pulled pork tacos, sugar-free treats, plus the usual burgers and sausage sizzles, while a variety of stalls will be selling secondhand toys, books, children’s clothing, preserves, jams and plants.

Entertainment will be provided by the school kapa haka and Pasifika groups, Mahurangi Kindergarten and Sonya Lewis dance students, plus there will be fire truck rides, quick fire raffles and silent auctions.

The fiesta, which runs from 3pm to 7pm, is Warkworth’s main fundraiser and proceeds this year will go towards setting up two new music tuition suites in a block being built to replace a building that was destroyed by arson last year. Fiesta organiser Kristen Clarke says the old block contained PE equipment storage, swimming pool changing rooms and toilets.

“Rather than simply replacing the building, we would like to extend the project to include two music suites,” she says. “Currently the music teachers use an old prefab building, which is soon to be demolished to make way for new classrooms. This means we need to build another space to provide for our music students.”

Last year’s event raised $18,000, which is going towards establishing outdoor learning areas outside the school’s brand new junior community block.