A winner for the Meeker community

MEEKER I Everyone is a winner at the Fall Festival — literally.
“We create a pool of Mountain Valley Bank bucks, which is free money for people who come to attend, and from there any ‘real’ dollars spent continue to raise money for our groups,” said Tawny Halandras, MVB vice president. “So it’s a win-win, all the way around — for the community, for the nonprofits, for the bank and for the co-sponsors. It’s just an incredible event.”
Saturday will be the sixth annual Fall Festival, sponsored by Mountain Valley Bank, along with White River Electric Association and Enterprise Products.
Halandras and other organizers of the event are hoping for good weather for the day of the event.
“Knock on wood, we have only had one year where the weather was chilly,” Halandras said. “I think it was our second year. Boy, I keep hoping for beautiful weather, because it does have a big affect on how much people are out and about.”
As in previous years, Main Street, between Fourth and Fifth streets, in front of the bank, will be closed off for the event.
“We also use the elementary school (across the street) and our parking lot,” Halandras said.
The day will get started at 9 a.m. with the fourth annual Scrub Shirt Classic, a 5K run/walk, sponsored by Pioneers Medical Center. The seasonal flu shot clinic will also open at 9 a.m. at the MVB drive-up and last until noon.
“The festival starts at 11 a.m., and the grand finale of the festival is the Fall Festival Challenge Toy Assembly Contest, which happens at 2 p.m.,” Halandras said. “It’s great entertainment. It’s fun to watch.”
The festival’s grand prize for winning the toy assembly challenge is an electronics package, including a Sony digital video camera/recorder, an iPod nano with a docking station and a Garmin GPS navigation unit.
The toy that will be used for the assembly challenge will be a secret, up until an hour before the contest.
“This year will be a challenge,” Halandras said of the assembly toys. “It will be really fun toy. We’re going to auction off four of the assembly toys at 1 p.m. to the highest bidders. The toys will be used in the assembly, then the winning bidders will get to take them home.”
The top five scorers from the roping, volleyball serve, bowling, football toss and potty toss advance to the toy assembly challenge. Other activities during the Fall Festival include: bean bag toss, cupcake walk, big-game laser shoot (provided by the Colorado Division of Wildlife), bounce house, jailhouse, a fishing game and mini-horse carriage rides.
Of course, the ultimate “winners” are the nonprofit groups that benefit from the money spent during the Fall Festival. Last year, more than $8,200 was distributed to the participating groups.
“Our goal for the festival is to create a community event,” Halandras said. “Obviously, we have sponsors behind it that get recognition, but the main goal of this is to help our nonprofit groups raise funds while providing a day for friends and family to enjoy Meeker.
“In Meeker, we have a lot of great groups — whether it’s a high school sports team, whether it’s a kids’ group, whether it’s 4-H — there are a variety of groups and they all have merit and they all need to raise funds, and this creates a great atmosphere to come and earn dollars.”