Magnolia Elementary School welcomed the Oakdale Join Unified School District’s recent three-day weekend with a little extra special Fall Festival Celebration. On Thursday evening, Oct. 30, the school’s administration, Parent Teacher Club and tireless work of Event Chair Teresa Medeiros also celebrated the 75th Anniversary of the school campus.

The 2014-2015 school year marks the 75th year since the school doors were first opened at Magnolia.

“This campus has been through a lot of changes over the years,” Principal Julie Minabe said prior to unveiling a new school mural. “I sure am excited to be here for this piece of history with all of you.”

Much of the Fall Festival offered many of the traditional elements: a silent auction table, games with prizes, bounce houses, as well as cotton candy and pizza. An additional special treat was the appearance of Sweet Cheeks Fair Treats, the mobile food vendor serving up fresh corn dogs and funnel cake in true fair style.

“They said they would be interested in coming to our festival next year,” Medeiros shared.

Of the many successes noted by the Event Chair, the use of S Club and California Association of Student Councils (CASC) volunteers was perhaps the biggest.

“The parents loved that they didn’t have to work a booth and could instead spend the time with their kiddos,” she said. “The kids (volunteers) showed up at 1 p.m. and a lot of them stayed until 7 p.m. They helped set up before the festival, cut and plated all the cake and ran most of the booths. I think there were 40 high schoolers. Jasmine Yong, president of CASC helped me to coordinate that.”

The cake Medeiros spoke of was a celebratory piece in honor of the 75th year. Magnolia alum Emily Bradley began the formal part of the evening singing the Star Spangled Banner, just prior to the unveiling of the mural painted by Magnolia mom and Mural Artist, Lindsey Wetenkemp.

“I could not have done any of this without Stephanie and her crew,” Medeiros said of MPTC president Stephanie Vargas, the board and parent volunteers.

Kids, the majority of them in costume just a day ahead of the Halloween celebration, enjoyed plenty of activities and the chance for prizes at the festival.

President Vargas reported an estimated $4700 profit for the school’s PTC, which will be used to help fund field trips, teacher supplies and extracurricular student activities.