A fall festival filled with music, activities and more marked the 75th anniversary of George McVey Elementary School in East Meadow, drawing students, families and community members to celebrate the milestone. Organized by the McVey Parent-Teacher Association, the three-hour-long fanfare kicked off after school on Sept. 26.
Julie Leake, PTA co-president, told the Herald that they were approached last year by McVey’s principal Kerry Dunne about having a fall festival to mark the milestone anniversary. The PTA thought it was a great idea and quickly got to work over the summer, organizing the activities, soliciting food trucks, other vendors, and more.
Allison Vardakis, the PTA’s other co-president, explained that the organization broke the planning down into pieces, allowing many people to get involved.
“The PTA, the executive committee, all of our board — they kind of all took on little pieces of it, kind of distributed a little bit, so that way everyone did something,” she said.
Vardakis has a fifth-grade and first-grade student enrolled at McVey, and Leake has a fifth-grader and a fourth-grader.
McVey serves over 800 East Meadow students in grades pre-K through fifth. It was built in 1950 and opened as Meadowlawn School. It was renamed to McVey Elementary School in 1969, honoring a prominent educator, George McVey.
The festival was open to East Meadow families, offering an evening of food, entertainment and community spirit. Food trucks and table vendors, led by local families, packed into the festival too, offering savory eats and artisan products for purchase. There were other family-friendly activities, raffles and more. Face painting was provided courtesy of the East Meadow Kiwanis, while the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce sponsored free popcorn for attendees. A highlight for all families was a hayride around the grounds of McVey.
Through Facebook, Leake said they solicited interest from McVey alumni and former teachers to get as many people involved and attending as possible. The McVey community — and many others in East Meadow — are tight knit and multigenerational.
“I actually moved away and came back,” Leake said, “specifically to raise my children here.”
“We’re excited,” Vardakis said, “because so many people decided they wanted to stay in East Meadow or close by, which just means that they had such a great time growing up here.”
The McVey PTA is a driving force behind many school activities, whether it be a touch-a-truck event, the school’s tie-dye day, barbecue and more. For more on what’s ahead this school year and to learn how to get involved, visit McVeyPTA.org.
