Funtasia

2003-07-19 8:17 p.m.

Oh yes, NJC's first attempt at a large scale Food and Fun Fair. Late in the year to host such an event don't you think? Well, blame it on the SARS epidemic; it was supposed to be on the 24th of May.

Funtasia. The name sounds magical and transcendental. A fortnight before the actual event itself, I had this wild idea on what to set up for the fun fair itself. It’s not the usual food or games stall, but of all things, a rock band. I envisioned a group of students, me, and a few others from the Art Faculty along with some science people. Some would just be guitarists . People would choose songs from a fixed list and we would play and sings their requests. Songs would range from the 1950s to the present day, covering mainly rock music. Songs from the Bee Gees, Elvis, Sedaka, N Sync, and other famous rock groups would be on the list. I saw myself like Robin Gibb, being a main singer without playing any instrument. There would be some guest singers and it would be like any rock concert.

However, this never took place. Instead, Funtasia turned out to be a lethargic and yet enriching experience. The day started of at around 0800 hours, with many students rushing to place the finishing touches on their stalls before the crowd arrived. Surprisingly, people came as early as 0900 hours and the whole place was bustling with activity by half past nine.

While most students were only responsible for their own stalls, I had to rush between two stations, the rides and games section and my class stall, where we were selling ice cream, pies, cookies and even clothes for young children. Some how or the other, the school managed to hire some games to liven up the event. It was the usual rides one would find at a carnival, with a few special attractions like the Twin Gyrotrons. A special group of us were selected to man the rides. That meant collecting coupons and marking them. While that may seem a relatively easy task, it was a nightmare. Pre determined schedules were not kept too and people were swarming around us, making it difficult to ensure that everyone paid up. Nevertheless, we managed our best. Certain complications and unpleasant events occurred in the course of the duty itself, but otherwise everything seem fine.

Everything? I must say that one main problem was the lack of supply rather than the lack of demand, to bring economics into the topic. Food ran out by early afternoon for most stalls, and those who had late lunches (like me); found only the remains to satisfy our hunger. Furthermore, in my view, there seemed to be a lack of food and drink stalls, or maybe it's because I did not explore all the stalls. Demand varied across the board, but by 1600 hours, one could hear cries of "Ice Cream" or "Pasta for $2". Demand was inelastic for a while as prices rose, but after that, the crowd thinned down drastically so much that sellers had to resort to the above measures. Litter need not be mentioned as it is all too common in Fun fairs. My break at four saw me buying up what was left from the Arts classes. I had visited 02A01's "Benzie's Bananas" in the morning, but my afternoon visit saw me purchasing the cheapest cookies I ever found ( two packets for $1) from Marianne, who continuously persuaded passer bys to buy her packets of cookies. She would make an excellent businesswoman in the future. A03's pineapple rice was long gone by that time, and luckily I sampled it in the morning.A02's food had ran out by the time I got to their stall, so I turn back and headed towards the linkway.Between bites of some chicken puff from the Delifrance stall and swigs of water, I passed by A04's beauty parlour for the umpteenth time, but never bothered to try it. Besides, I did not see the need to get my nails painted or my hair braided. Those boys, who did however, did look quite "cool", to use an American slang.

Clean up time was clean up time; however, I was busy counting the money earned from the games and rides. Thus ended a brilliant attempt to raise money for next year's Integrated Programme. Although it was not on the scale of ACJC's biannual Fun O Rama, it was still a success.

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