The Waterloo Gala

A couple of weekends back we attended a school fund raiser that I didn’t get a chance to really write about yet.  But as I look back on it, I see more and more that this was just too blog worthy not to catch up on.

 

It was billed as the “Waterloo Gala” (pronounced GAL-ah and *not* GAY-lah.)  Everyone thought gay-la was incredibly funny when I said it.  They advertised for it about month in advance and needless to say all the kids were super excited about it.

 

The actual event had all the things I expected.  There were fun games, lots and lots of lollies (candy), bake sales, plant sales and art booths.  They had 4 or 5 different kinds of raffles.  The most hilarious being the “Pony Plop” where a pony is penned in a small field of grass that has been laid out with a numeric grid… and can you guess? They sell the numbers on the grid and where ever the pony does his business the holder of that number gets a prize.  If that image was not funny enough, then image a small crowd gasping in anticipation when the pony lifted his tail and then the groan of disappointment when it turns out to be “only a pee.”  We unfortunately didn’t win.

 

What was really blog-worthy though was the stuff I did not expect.  Like the “Bottle Lottery” which was rather like a cake walk only you won booze.  This is right on the school grounds remember.  You should have seen the hoots and hollers when the adults won booze.  The Bottle Lottery sold out in less than an hour.

 

Next on the booze tour was the full on beer tent.  Yes, you read that right.  In the middle of the school yard was the adult beer tent with 4 different bottled beers and a wide selection of RTD’s (Ready To Drink beverages).  RTD’s are like cans of bourbon and coke, rum and coke, vodka and juice, etc.  All of them pre-made, 12 oz size, and *significantly* stronger than beer.  The beer tent managed to keep selling throughout the event (from about 6 PM to 9 PM).  Thankfully we only live 2 short walking blocks from the school.

 

Last we have my favourite… the water balloon catapult.  At first glance you may ask how this could possibly compare with the schoolyard beer tent, but imagine this… The catapult has about 90’ range.  The target is a non-descript box located about 90’ away from the catapult.  The target is not marked and in the middle of the event—neatly bisecting the attraction side from the beer tent side.  Now picture about half a dozen partially drunk parents wandering in to the field of fire whilst their kids take aim.  Peg the drunken parent at 30 yards with the water balloon catapult might be the single biggest untapped fund raiser event in the world.

 

All told the event raised $30,000.  How much did your school raise last event?

 

Gabe had a great time.  I'm fairly sure he ate his body weight in candy.  He also swung a sledge hammer on an old beater car a few times.  He ran around like crazy.  Amy and I enjoyed the beer tent and successfully avoided the catapult hazard.  Our friend Lisa ran the Plant Sale which turned out to be not nearly as popular as the Bottle Lottery.  We got a great deal on plants near the end of the event.  Who needs a beerfest? Show me the way to the next school Gala!