Friday night’s rain might have dampened the turf, but it definitely did not dampen the fun at the OneBerkeley Back to School Festival on Saturday morning.
This festival, held right before school starts, is Berkeley County School District’s way of getting students, families and staff members excited about the upcoming school year. VIEW PHOTOS.
Thousands of residents came out to the Moncks Corner Regional Recreation Complex to join in the fun. A major feature of the festival is the bookbag distribution; the district had more than 3,000 bookbags, lightly packed with some basic school supplies, to give to students on a first come / first serve basis. The event did not officially kick off until 9 a.m. but families started lining up as early as 7 a.m. to ensure they got bags for their students.
BCSD Superintendent Dr. Anthony Dixon said the district is grateful to support its families by coming together to put on the festival and give out some school supplies.
“We know there’s a need, and people excited to go back to school, and we want to contribute to our community,” he said. “This is a good place to be at the OneBerkeley Back to School Festival. Every year we are excited to be here.”
In addition to the bookbag distribution, families enjoyed face painting, jump castles and some visiting food trucks during their visit. BCSD department and community members set up tables to give out information, resources and goodies for students and parents.
This year’s festival was made possible with the help of BCSD’s lead Bronze Sponsor, Kelly Services, and Patron Sponsor, Planned Administrators, Inc. BCSD extends its thanks to all of its community partnerships for supporting this year’s event.
“We say ‘OneBerkeley’ for a reason, because it truly takes the entire county and all of our resources to support our families,” Dixon said.