HBA’s annual Fun Fair took place on April 7 at the Richard Bento Elementary Campus.
With new additions like the Supersonic ride, there were also games and food booths, including KC Waffle Dog and Hoku’s BBQ Chicken.
Planning and preparation for the annual fun fair begins as early as October. “Most of the time spent is during the two weeks leading up to the fair with over 100 parents and faculty meeting on campus between 6:00 am and 8:00 pm the Friday before the fair. It takes well over 500 people to staff the fair,” said Sheri Iida, PTF president.
Fun Fair food this year featured kalbi, hamburgers, fried noodles, nachos and chili, homemade desserts, and cotton candy courtesy of the elementary student council. Game booths included Treasure Dig, Live Fish (win a betta fish), and Three-Point Contest (a basketball challenge). The fair also featured a dunking booth where many students happily exchanged their fun fair scripts for a chance to dunk their favorite HBA faculty member.
Dunk tank volunteer and eighth-grade history teacher Derek Coryell said, “I enjoyed the dunking booth, especially when I got to see how many kids took delight in dunking Mr. Kamada (who followed me as the person in the tank). I also liked all the food booths.”
The fair also had a white elephant sale, a country store, a silent auction, and an airbrush tattoo booth. Also available for purchase were gently used HBA uniforms at the Eagle Closet and athletic wear at the Locker Room Sale held by the Athletic Department.
Fun Fair volunteers included parents, students, staff, and alumni. For vice principal Ryan Frontiera, seeing so many volunteers was what he enjoyed most about the event. “I think my favorite part is seeing the older students there [help out] with the younger ones. It’s really cool to see them running the rides booths or serving food and giving back to the school community.”
I think my favorite part is seeing the older students there [help out] with the younger ones. It’s really cool to see them running the rides booths or serving food and giving back to the school community.—Vice principal Ryan Frontiera
Families with young children took advantage of the many kids activities that the fair had to offer. High school teachers Dawson Vorderbruegge and Ross Mukai and their families found themselves at the very popular Live Fish Booth. Vorderbruegge, who has a one year old son, notes that his most memorable moment from the fair was taking home a little fighting fish. On the other hand, Mukai, who has three children under six, wasn’t quite as thrilled with having a new pet fish to take home.
According to Iida, the fun fair this year raised about $100,000. Iida thinks that the addition of a new items like the Supersonic ride, hamburger steak plates and fried noodles helped keep script sales going. “[We plan to] keep these new additions and are hopeful about expanding on them for next year. We also made a conscious decision to support our HBA and Christian community by booking only HBA and Christian groups. It was a great way to showcase our talented students and alumni at HBA,” Iida said.
