The West Sedona School Parent-Teacher Association’s largest annual fundraiser, the Wildcat Carnival, will return to the West Sedona School with food, fun and inflatable games from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7.

The event averages around 3,000 attendees and typically raises around $30,000 for the Sedona-Oak Creek School District.

“It’s a great way to be able to help support our school,” West Sedona School PTA Vice President Mel Monahan-Bruesch said. “We are a Title I, like a poverty-level school district … These funds are extremely important for a school [that] is experiencing financial hardship. Also every teacher and staff member that volunteers at the carnival, we give them money to buy classroom supplies, books, art supplies. So people that come don’t even know how much they’re impacting the students and the staff in such a positive way.”

The PTA currently plans to purchase new playground equipment for the older WSS students, which will be installed on the back playground, and recently purchased soccer nets using some of its leftover 2022 carnival money.

“We’re also hoping to increase field trip opportunities,” Monahan-Bruesch said. “We also increased the amount of scholarship payouts that we give at the end of the year from $500 to $1,000. We’re also hoping to get some more water bottle [refill] stations to reduce plastic use. We put those in three of our buildings already and we’re trying to get two more.”

Additionally, the PTA reimburses school clubs like the National Honor Society, the Interact Club and the Sedona Police Cadets when they volunteer their time “to help keep their clubs and programs sustainable,” Monahan-Bruesch said.

“The thing that people come to the carnival for most often every year is our homemade Mexican food court,” Monahan-Bruesch continued. “We’re going to have all sorts of homemade Mexican food that’s donated to the school. We also have pizza, hot dogs, chips, snow cones, cotton candy, popcorn, desserts and then, of course, an assortment of drinks.”

While the food court menu is still being finalized, the anticipated cost is $10 for an entree and two sides such as rice and beans. Last year’s menu included tostadas de tinga, flautas, aqua frescas and coctial de fruta.

Traditional carnival games such as the ring toss will be accompanied by new additions, including an archery booth and inflatable attractions.

“We’re going to have two different bounce houses, one for younger ages and one for older kids,” Monahan-Bruesch said. “We’re also going to have an inflatable giant slide and an inflatable obstacle course. It’s huge, two adults can [participate] at the same time and then race each other. We do have inflatable games like giant ax throwing with Velcro axes. Then we have a soccer dartboard that’s inflatable. It’s about 20 feet high and people kick the soccer ball and then it sticks to the big dartboard.”

Prices for the attractions will range from $2 to $6, with unlimited use wristbands currently being discussed as well.

Other activities will include a pumpkin carving contest, a Humane Society booth, a silent auction, a remote broadcast by The Q 102.9 FM and more. Prospective carvers should bring their own pumpkins to participate in that contest, which will be free to enter and offer a first prize of $50, a second prize of $25 and a third prize of $10. The contest will be divided into two age groups for first- to fifth-graders and for sixth- through twelfth-graders.

The silent auction will feature roughly 50 items, including a carload pass to Bearizona, gift certificates for local hotels and passes to the Children’s Museum of Phoenix.

“We also have each of our classrooms put together raffle baskets,” Monahan-Bruesch said. “The parents and the students donate items to their classroom’s theme. So, for instance, one of our classrooms makes a Lego basket and all the kids bring in a different Lego set and then we raffle that off at the end of the carnival. We also have arts and crafts and game night. Those are a huge hit every year and they’re exciting baskets to win.”

“We get so many people that volunteer their time and donate items, and to see our community come together, it’s amazing for me to see,” Monahan-Bruesch said. “I’ve never seen anybody come to the carnival and be unhappy. It’s a great event for people of all ages. We’ve tried to make sure that there are games and things that are appropriate for older siblings that are maybe at the junior high, high school or even the parents.”