For Thunder Mountain senior Kylie Morris, giving a hand took on a whole new meaning at the very first TMHS Fall Carnival.
“This booth is a mural that’s meant to represent our very first TMHS carnival and hopefully the start of a big tradition that will help bring our community together,” said Morris, who is student government all body president.
Morris helped attendees place painted handprints on the mural as a way of leaving their mark on the carnival, which took place on Saturday. Morris said that the money raised from Saturday’s event will go directly back within the school in a wide variety of ways.
“Student Government is taking 5% of the proceeds from every booth, but that means 95% is going back towards the various clubs and departments with booths set up, there are just so many different parts of our school that are getting funding from this,” Morris said.
Felix Ames dons his scary costume at the seventh annual Spirit of Fall Carnival at JDHS. This marked the carnival’s first year back since the pandemic and proceeds raised from the event go towards both TMHS cheer and JDHS cheer teams. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
TMHS wasn’t the only one getting in on the fall festive fun, as Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaa.at Kalé also held its seventh annual Spirit of Fall Carnival, where proceeds went to benefit both Huskies cheer and JDHS basketball cheer teams. Carlene Nore, who coaches for both teams, said this was the first year the carnival has been back since the pandemic began.
“It’s really exciting to have the carnival back this year,” Nore said. “We have lot of booth games, we have two bounce castles, we’ve got arts and crafts, we’ve got a free trick-or-treat hallway for kids to enjoy, that runs for an hour or until we run out of candy. That’s just something we like to give back to the community, offering something free for the little ones where it’s warm and it’s dry, so that’s exciting.”
Cheer coach Carlene Nore shows off some of the refreshments served at the JDHS Spirit of Fall Carnival with fruit punch served inside blood bags. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
Though the Huskies cheer team just finished their season, cheer coach Stephany Day said there’s still plenty of cheer action lined up as the teams move right into basketball season, with JDHS basketball cheer already underway and TMHS starting next week.
“We’re right back in the gym,” Day said. “We had no time off really; we’re going right from football cheer to basketball cheer and we’re getting back at it. With basketball cheer, we’re in a gym so we’re able to do more stunting and stuff like that, so that’s always the kid’s favorite, so they’re excited.”
Face painting was just one of many attractions offered at JDHS’s Spirit of Fall Carnival. Attendees also enjoyed a host of games, crafts, refreshments and indoor trick-or-treating. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
Starting at noon Saturday, JDHS opened doors to the community for kids and parents to come show off their Halloween costumes while helping out for a good cause. Day said they couldn’t have asked for a better turnout and return to festivites.
“We are having a ton of fun, it’s absolutely adorable and festive in this place and it’s so good to see families out and kids all dressed up, they’re adorable. It is really nice to just see these kids be able to be kids and enjoy the festivities of Halloween,” Day said.
There were no shortage of games for kids in costumes at TMHS’ first Fall Carnival. In addition to games, the carnival also offered several booths throughout, as well as a giant bounce castle. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
Additionally, Nore said that events like the carnival couldn’t happen without the overwhelming community support. Nore added that with Huskies’ cheer team just finishing up a successful season and competition in Wasilla, they’re now focusing on fundraising efforts to help the basketball cheer team go to nationals this year.
“We just want to give a big thanks for the community support for both cheer teams just throughout the entire year, we’ve had a lot of support and it’s been really appreciated,” Nore said.
Cotton candy as well as just about every other kind of candy was plentiful at JDHS’ annual Fall Carnival on Saturday, Oct. 29. Proceeds from the carnival went to help several school sports and clubs. (Jonson Kuhn / Juneau Empire)
TMHS also saw much community appreciation for their carnival, as senior and carnival committee chairperson Kelcy Barker said, it was both exciting and surprising to see how quickly people showed up to give support.
“We’ve been planning this for a month and a half and it’s really exciting to see how many people are here in just the first hour, I was expecting it to be slow at first but now we have all of these people, so it’s just been really cool to see how successful this is turning out to be,” Barker said.
• Contact reporter Jonson Kuhn at jonson.kuhn@juneauempire.com.
