During the March 6 Lisbon School Board meeting, the board thanked activities administrative assistant Jennie Zerbe and administrative assistant Angie Santis for reimagining Lisbon Elementary School’s annual book fair.
This year’s fair was relocated to Lisbon’s new district office common room, creating a more thematic and immersive experience for families.
“I think it was great and a testament to the board because that book fair wouldn’t have gone over as well in the old space because it’s wide open now,” Santis told the board.
Santis and Zerbe looked to the big top to make this year’s fair special. This circus-themed fair had balloons, streamers, dancing kids, and smiles that filled the space as families shopped for books, ate food, and made memories during parent-teacher conferences.
“No time for dinner on Conference night? NO PROBLEM! Check out our menu for the book fair. Come get books, see your teachers, and fill your belly!” said Lisbon Elementary on Facebook.
The fair had a great turnout and raised money for the school library through Scholastic Dollars. Scholastic Dollars is a monetary system established by the Scholastic book company that doubles the school’s profits in the Scholastic Dollars catalog. This allows the school to acquire more books for the library as well as other educational resources Lisbon needs.
“There’s an author that talks about when you create an event, create a moment and have it be an experience,” said Lisbon superintendent Autumn Pino. “An experience was created in Lisbon. That wasn’t just a book fair. That was an experience for kids.”
The fair also had a raffle, with the grand prize of the day being a large cardboard cutout from the popular book and now film series “Dog Man.” Watching the kids take home their raffle prizes became a highlight for Lisbon Elementary principal Justin Brown. The grand prize was won by elementary school student Whitley Beddell, the daughter of Nic and Thea Beddell of Lisbon. The cutout towered over the first-grader, who carried her prize to her car at the end of the day.
“I had to call the parents before dismissal, like, ‘Hey, do you guys have a really good car?’” said Brown.