Merritt Cason is the organizer for Rebel Fest 2017 at Riverdale Academy. She sent the Journal details of the second annual event coming up on September 9th.

This will be our 2nd annual Riverdale Rebel Fest. This fundraiser is meant to meet the educational needs of our students, and to help maintain and improve the quality of our facilities. With the money raised at last year’s event we have been able to contribute to the General Fund, purchase new math textbooks for the High School, and JR High School, new thermostats to help regulate our energy usage, and make some much needed improvements to the activities building.

This year our event will begin at 3pm. Admission is free and everyone is welcome. We will have something to entertain everyone. Activities will include: Laser Tag, 3 point shoot-out, free-throw shoot-out, skeet shooting, bingo, 3 large water slides, wii video game tournament, a baking contest, dunking booth, Teacher Kiss-A-Pig contest, and an amazing live auction.

There are two things that I’d like to highlight this year. We have an awesome raffle going on. Tickets are $100 each. First place is $10,000 Cash, Second place is a 7 night beach vacation to Perdido Key, FL, and Third place is a Phantom 4 quad outer drone.

The second item I’d like to mention is our Win-A-Side x Side football throw. In this game you can pay $25 per throw or get 5 throws for $100. All you have to do is throw the football through the target to win a brand new Polaris Side x Side.

We will also have plate dinners for sale for $10. These will be provided by Shaver’s Catering with the following items: Sausage & Brisket, baked beans, potato salad and a roll.

All events will begin at 3:00 pm. Most of them will end at 6:00 when our auction begins. We are still accepting donations for the auction, but so far we have some great items. You can find some pictures of our auction items, and many other details on our Facebook page, Riverdale Rebel Fest. You can also pre-order, T-shirts and plate dinners there.

This is an enormous undertaking for us, and it’s a lot of work. In order to make this a success we need everyone at the school to get involved. Not just current students and their families, I hope to see grandparents, friends, alumni and maybe some total strangers. Many of the businesses in Coushatta have generously donated auction items, and sponsored this event. Natchitoches and Shreveport businesses have also gotten involved. We could not make this a reality without the support of our community. That being said, I hope to see some new faces at this event along with our students, families, and staff.

My daughter is a 2017 graduate of Riverdale, and my son is in the 2019 class. Next year will be my last year as a Riverdale parent, but I hope to be involved with this fundraiser for many years to come. It has been a great honor to help organize this year’s Rebel Fest and I hope to see you there.