With expected revenue from Carnival and Mushroom Festival, the committee hopes to purchase stadium lights by 2014
By Nicole Brown, Staff Writer, The Times
Dark no more after 2013? If fundraising continues on pace, the 2013 football season will be the last at Kennett High School played only daylight — as a new lighting system could be ready for the 2014 season.
KENNETT SQUARE — The Demon Lights Committee is one step closer to purchasing the stadium lights at the Kennett High School.
The committee is a group of parents and community members who have been raising money for the stadium lights for almost four years.
Their latest fundraising event is the Demon Lights Carnival, which began Tuesday night and will be open every night from 6p.m. to 10p.m. until Saturday at the Kennett High School. This is the second year the high school has hosted the carnival.
Despite a slower start than last year’s carnival, the committee expects to top the profits by the end of the carnival.
“We think it’s going to pick up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday,” committee chairman Jeff Roland said, contributing the slow start to the heat the past few days. “If everything goes right, by the end of the year we’ll reach our goal.”
Their goal is to raise about $180,000, and Roland estimated that the committee has raised $160,000.
The committee will also raise funds at the Mushroom Festival on Sept. 7 to 9, as they have for the past few years.
Roland said the Mushroom festival is one of the committee’s most demanding fundraising events.
“We have eleven checkpoints around the mushroom festival, and we sell all the wristbands,” Roland said. “I need all the volunteers I can get for that.”
About 66 volunteers are needed each day to run all the checkpoints and sell the wristbands. Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Roland or other committee members through the website.
Roland said he expects to be able to purchase the lights by the end of the year with the money raised, but the committee is also waiting on approval from the borough. The permit for the lights is currently being reviewed.
