Friends of the PAC at Oyster Fest 2017

By Stepanie Sadocha
​     Oyster Fest, one of the largest festivals on Long Island, is an annual tradition that takes place right here in Oyster Bay. Whether you like rides or satisfying your food cravings, Oyster Fest never lets anyone down. Our own students and parents here at OBHS even have a booth at the two-day event where they raise money for the Performing Arts Center (PAC). 
     PAC’s biggest fundraiser consists of selling an assortment of popular festival foods. Their famous turkey legs sell for $12 each and yield OBHS a large profit, as they sell relatively quickly.

     A group of parents, the Friends of the Performing Arts Center, make all of this possible. Ravin Chetram is the President of PAC and a parent of two students who attend OBHS. Chetram, along with other parents, does a lot for the music department and the school as a whole. 
     This April, the high school bands, Symphonic Band and Wind Ensemble, will be performing at Carnegie Hall. This is the third time Oyster Bay students will be fortunate enough to perform at the revered concert hall, and the booth at this year’s Oyster Fest sought to raise money to cover as much of the cost for Carnegie Hall as possible. 
     On the morning of Saturday, October 14th, the first group of students and parents arrived at PAC’s booth as lines formed with customers excited to purchase their turkey legs. The morning started out at a steady pace, but once lunchtime hit PAC’s booth formed one of the longest lines at the festival, stretching past three other booths!
    On Sunday, October 15th, many customers wanted to buy turkey legs in bulk. One customer even attempted to buy ten! Mr. Chetram had to set a limit of two turkey legs per person because if one customer purchased too many, the batch would sell out much faster, causing customers to wait even longer for the next legs to be ready. 
      Most students had a great time volunteering at the event, even though it could be extremely stressful at times. When a batch of turkey legs sells out and the next batch is still cooking, customers can become anxious. Volunteers also had to work extremely fast and be able to perform calculations in their heads to give their customers the correct change. 
      Ninth grader Brianna Barefoot was a volunteer at this year’s booth. She gives insight into her experience volunteering when she says, “Working at the booth is so much fun! I love getting to help the music department in such a unique way.”
     In total, PAC sold over 2,000 pounds of turkey legs. The music teachers at Oyster Bay would personally like to thank everybody who helped out. The events of the day would not have been possible without all the parents and students who took time out of their busy schedules to help PAC!