Showbiz replacing schools' cake stalls

By STUART DYE

Schools are going to extreme and sometimes bizarre lengths to create the biggest, best and brightest annual fairs.

Gone are the days when it was a sausage sizzle and cake stall, and the school down the road was thought extravagant for having a bouncy castle.

Today's gala events are all about the country's top sports and pop stars, entrance fees and lots of people.

But the changing face of school fairs masks a funding crisis that many are struggling to cope with.

Westmere School in Auckland set the benchmark with its "Little Day Out" - and an astonishing line-up including performances by Deceptikonz, Jordan Luck and Mareko, and an autograph-signing by Scribe.

Sporting names from the Black Sox, Silver Ferns, Warriors and Football Kingz also paid a visit. Tickets at the gate were $20, with children free. About 1500 people turned up.

Newton Central School followed suit with an equally impressive line-up - albeit one which the parents would know better than their kids. Don McGlashan, Blam Blam Blam, One Million Dollars and Mahinarangi Tocker all gave performances.

Other schools, which don't boast parents with contacts in the music or sporting worlds, have to draw on other skills to make their fair stand out.

St Peter's College held the bizarre pig-racing, while crockery smashing and film-making have all reared their heads at other school fairs.

For others still, celebrity is the key - even if the star in question cannot be there in person.

Seatoun School in Wellington borrowed a Lord of the Rings Oscar, the Tri-Nations Cup and the Bledisloe Cup for their day, and charged $5 for a photograph with the awards.

Meanwhile, Cornwall Park School is auctioning a Jonny Wilkinson-signed England Rugby shirt. The school in Greenlane, which has its fair this weekend, concentrates on a huge variety of stalls. Bargain hunters queue at the gate from 6am each year for everything from antiques to car parts.

It is not so much a rise and rise as a re-birth, with fairs transformed into entertainment extravaganzas.

And the money they raise is no longer a little extra for luxuries, but a part of the annual budget. Where it once paid for an expensive piece of sports equipment, it now funds repairs, refurbishments and even teachers.

Hoana Pearson, principal at Newton Central, said financial demands meant schools had no choice but to go "bigger and bigger and bigger" with their fairs.

"We simply can't survive without it [the extra money]."

The Government's operation grant covered just three quarters of the school's running costs.

"We have to be really creative just to make ends meet."

Carolyn Marino, principal at Westmere, said the school was aiming to make Little Day Out a biennial event.

"It would be nice if parent-teacher fundraising was for a project over and above running the school, but that's just not the case with funding so tight these days."

Brendan Mulligan, fair convenor at Cornwall Park School, said it took five months of planning and organisation by a dedicated band of parents.

"It's a key element of the school budget. I'm sure there's easier ways of raising a bit of cash, but we all want the best for our children."

The school fair also fulfils another function. In many cases schools are the last bastion of community life. Ms Marino said it was more vital than ever that schools nurtured the relationships within their communities.

And all the schools are planning to go one better with their next gala day creating yet bigger events.

"You now have highly competent people pooling their resources to create something special," said Ms Marino. "The traditional school fair [in city schools] is definitely dying away."