After three years without the annual Food Fair, the Taipei American School (TAS) Parent Teacher Association (PTA) successfully hosted the Halloween Family Fun Night on Oct. 28. With over 2,500 faculty, staff, students and TAS family members attending, the event was the biggest schoolwide, cross-divisional function since the 2019 Food Fair, the last Food Fair held before COVID-19 hit. 

The Halloween Family Fun Night was hosted at the Taipei Children’s Amusement Park. “The event was pretty festive, especially for the younger kids, as there were endless food stands and activities throughout the park besides the rides to keep them busy,” said Daphne W. (‘24), who attended the event with friends. 

The PTA, led by President Ms. Fantine Chu and Events Head Ms. Mina Hirai, worked tirelessly to coordinate all factors leading to this success: finalizing the date on short notice, working with the Informational Technology (IT) Department on registration forms and communicating with administrators to finalize logistics.  

Ten upper school clubs, including the Climate Change Club and PaintHouse, set up shaded booths with fundraising activities and games. “When it rained, everyone went to the games,” Ms. Chu said.

The rain posed an opportunity for cross-divisional interaction, with members from the lower, middle and upper schools participating in upper school student club booths. “[Lower school students watching upper school students run their booths] made them go like, ‘one day, I could do that too,’” Ms. Hirai said. 

The event was also an opportunity for the community to come together holistically. “This was not only for the students’ [immediate family] … It was about the TAS community … The students could even invite their grandparents,” Ms. Chu said. It was also a chance for new TAS families, who joined across the past three years, to socialize. “Parents were meeting the parents of the best friend of their kids,” Ms. Hirai said. 

New faculty members, including Deputy Head of School Dr. Liz Gale, also got to see the community in full scale. Dr. Gale made a short speech introducing herself to the TAS community at the start of the event.

The planning process also involved many parent volunteers, with over 70 parents getting involved in decorations and the overall coordination of the event. 

The annual PTA Food Fair, which this event replaced, is still in consideration for coming years as COVID-19 restrictions loosen.