Another One ‘In The Books’ For Bowler PTO

By LAURA ROBISON

The Progress

The Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) at Grant Bowler held its annual Book Fair event last week at the Clark County Fairgrounds Fine Arts building. The fundraising efforts exceeded hopes of PTO organizers.

Traditionally the Bowler PTO book fair is slated with Grandparents Day where breakfast is served up in a room packed with the young and older alike. But with the current COVID considerations in place, the PTO board decided to forego the big event.

But that didn’t end the fun, nor did it stop grandparents from being involved. Rather the event was spread out over the four days of the Book Fair: September 14-17.

“Usually there are about 700 people in attendance at Grandparents Day,” said PTO President Esther Lee. “It is very hard to have that many people in one room during a pandemic. We wanted everyone to feel comfortable about coming to the event. But we also thought it would be great to give grandparents more options to choose morning or afternoon to attend.”

Grandparents could bring the kids in throughout the book fair for milk and cookies instead of breakfast. A photo booth was available with props so family’s could commemorate the day.

With the changes came new excitement as the school kids had more room to find what they wanted to read, and more time to browse.

Mele Ramos attended with her grandmother Kim Delgadillo and said she loves reading, finding it hard to choose what items she wanted.

Sheila Matheson attended the book fair last Tuesday afternoon with her grandsons Aiden and Kamden Matheson. “I love bringing my grandkids to show them my love of books,” she said.

Lee said the PTO works very hard to do the fundraising events and appreciates the support of all the volunteers. By Wednesday afternoon they had already surpassed their goal, with still two days left in the book fair.

Lee explains that all of the funds raised are spent on school, staff and students at Bowler Elementary.
“Sales for this fair far exceeded our expectations!” Lee said at the event’s end. “We were looking at numbers and our final sales this year were more than in Fall 2019, which was our last “normal year” with the Grandparents Day breakfast. We are so grateful!”

Lee and the PTO board thank the students, teachers, school staff, parents, community members, Lin’s Market, and Parks and Rec for their support and look forward to next Scholastic Book Fair in the Spring.