With the first day of the school year around the bend, children from the City of Elizabethton had the opportunity to start off the upcoming year on a right note.
Thousands flocked to Citizens Bank Stadium on the Elizabethton High School campus on Saturday, July 30, for the inaugural Back-2-School Bash, an event where children from across the area were provided with school supplies, along with a host of family-friendly activities.
Throughout the morning and afternoon hours, 800 backpacks, with school supplies, were provided to children. The event boasted approximately 40 sponsors and 20 partners.
“It was an extremely successful event,” Elizabethton City Schools Superintendent Dr. Corey Gardenhour said. “We just want to thank everyone that made Saturday’s event possible. From all the volunteers, businesses, churches and organizations, without them, this event couldn’t have happened.”
Along with school supplies, children were welcomed other ways to help start off the school year, including free haircuts and health screenings from the Carter County Health Department.
“For this year, we wanted to focus on making sure the students were given a good start for the beginning of the school year,” Gardenhour said.
With a minor burst of rain temporarily halting the day, children had the opportunity to play in inflatables, take part in an obstacle course, listen to music and view K-9 training exercises by local law enforcement agencies on the football field.
East River Park Christian Park also stayed busy throughout the day, providing free lunch to attendees and assisting with the distribution of backpacks.
“The churches I was at before did types of events like this,” Lee Hunt of East River Park Christian Church said. “We wanted to do this type of event so we talked with the school board and rather than it being just one church, we wanted to get together with a lot of the area businesses, churches and school board to make it such a strong community event.
“With everything that’s happened over the years, people know what churches are against,” he continued. “We wanted to use an event like today to show people what churches are for. We’re here for the community and we hope this is the first of many more events to come.”
Even with the amount of supplies given out Saturday, Hunt added that city students that missed the event and still need assistance can receive it the first week of school.
“Any other kids that are going to need book bags for the year can still get some,” he added. “If any were not claimed today, especially because of the rain, we’ll have those available the first week of school. If there’s still more kids needing assistance, we had additional funds come in so that we can get some more.”
The first year of the event brought success, and the community together, according to Hunt.
“It was incredible. The community really stepped forward in a huge way,” he said. “I’m not sure of the number of churches, but I believe it was between 15 to 18 churches. We also had numerous businesses. You see all the different tents from people in the community, everybody providing information on their group or business. It’s just been a great day.”
Gardenhour was in the process of delivering backpacks to schools on Monday and said that even though the weekend provided high marks, the school system is starting to prepare for next year.
“We’re going to sit down with the people that were involved with the event soon,” he stated. “Sort of a debriefing of sorts. We’re going to begin preparing for next year, set a date early on, and hope to build on the success from this year.”
For more information on the school system’s upcoming events, visit the Elizabethton City Schools Facebook page online.