American Heritage welcomes the holidays with Winterfest

By Rachel Aubrey | [email protected]

American Heritage of South Jordan hosted Winterfest on Nov. 5 from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. Sponsored by the parent association, Winterfest featured games, crafts, vendors and food trucks for families and community members. Also in attendance were Santa and Mrs. Claus, who were available for picture taking with eager attendees. 

The event was organized in part to raise funds for the school, and has typically been held earlier in the fall season. This year, president of the parent association, Amy Atkinson, said she wanted to create a “Hallmark” holiday experience, a jump-start to the holiday season. 

“Once the lights came on, it gave you that holiday feel,” Atkinson said.

In addition to vendors, a silent auction was held with items such as gift baskets filled with toys and novelties all the way up to ornately decorated Christmas trees. 

Upon entry, participants could purchase a punch card for $10 that would allow the recipient to participate in activities such as face painting, holiday picture frame decorating, cookie decorating, s’more making, a movie and popcorn, and fishing for prizes game in which the fishing hook was cast and was reeled up to reveal a prize. Atkinson said she borrowed the idea of the punch card system from Cornbelly’s in Lehi. Attached to the punch card was a clear plastic bag for the kids to hold their creations in.

“The parent association at our school is great at getting things together,” AH Board member Scotti Hansen said.

Hansen, the curriculum director on campus, works closely with the National Honor Society officers at AH. Her students were in charge of helping participants with the popular nerf gun shoot, s’mores making and face painting.

“The kids worked really hard and stayed the whole time, and kept to their job,” Hansen said.

There were donuts, cookies and hot chocolate available for a small fee and if that wasn’t enough, an abundance of food trucks for all the different taste buds.  Shoppers could enjoy bites from Fry me to the Moon, Waffle Love, South of the Border Tacos, World’s Best Corn Dogs, Strippin’ Dippin’ Chicken and Senor Obleas, while they shopped the vendors available.

Some of the vendors included local business owners such as Michelle Manwaring of Wild Ginger, who creates customized gift baskets. Artic Crunch offered their freeze-dried treats in all the flavors and varieties such as Skittles, Starburts, and the ever-popular FatBoy ice cream sandwiches, all freeze dried and ready to be given as a sweet gift. 

One of the vendors was local business owner Michelle Manwaring of Wild Ginger, who provided seven baskets for the silent auction. Manwaring, also a parent of a fifth grader at AHSJ, said she is encouraged by the parent association and all the volunteer efforts that school provides. 

“Each family is asked to volunteer for 20 hours for each school year,” Manwaring said. “Parent involvement is key to making the school run.”

Wild Ginger is known to create custom gift baskets as well as flax pax, a pillow filled with flax seed that can be microwaved and used to put against sore muscles.

The money raised from Winterfest will be put to good use as the school’s dance team anticipates a trip to Hawaii to perform at Pearl Harbor. Atkinson, who is in her first year as president of the parent association, said she is gearing up for another winter time festival next year, and already proposed the potential date to the administration.

American Heritage of South Jordan is located at 11100 S. Redwood Road, South Jordan, UT 84095. The campus is on the south side of the South Jordan city park. American Heritage of South Jordan, founded in 2005, is a traditional Christian, private school, accredited by the Northwest Accreditation Commission (NWAC).