The Hometown Fair!

In Manhattan Beach, we have this really cool hometown fair. It lasted a weekend and there was also a 10k run! There was an area that had a lot of stalls and there was even a petting zoo with llamas and goats! But my choir and I weren't just there to check out the stalls, we were there to volunteer and sing the national anthem.

We started our day pretty early in the morning, I had to get up at around 5 and be there at the beach. The runners had already started though and we had to find our group members and set up our station. Our job was to hand out water bottles to runners at the finish line. Our small group dismantled the station, and one by one, we managed to set out the table and get all of the bottle packs on them. Some of the parents that were chaperoning had sharp keys that made it easier to cut though the plastic. I didn't have anything so I just used my nails. After setting that up, we moved to another location (which was a parking lot) and it had a great view of the beach and the finish line! We set up some more bottles and then we were almost done. We tried to make some recycling bins, but failed and we decided to get some breakfast because none of us had really eaten.

The few of us ran up the strand with a parents credit card and ordered our food. The pizza bagel took FOREVER. I got an avocado toast because they are my favorite and then we went back to the station. We kind of just chilled there for the time being, taking photos, texting our friends, and watching TikTok and Reels because we were physically exhausted by then.

After some waiting, it was showtime. The runners started piling in and we had the job of handing out a bottle to everyone. I lost track of time but I'm assuming it was over 10 minutes. 10 minutes of frantically rushing back and forth, back and forth and it was insane! We handed out a lot of bottles to the runners and the average amount of bottles we were carrying was about 6 to 8. I didn't know that was possible either! I had a lot of fun handing out the bottles and people were so tired after the run, we emptied 4 full sizes boxes of water bottles in no time! There were also this young female toddlers and they would hand out bottles as well! It was so cute!

Our frantic bottle run ended quickly. One girl from our group was telling us we needed to go! We were apparently 5 minutes late to the choir performance area! I handed out the last to bottles in my hand and sprinted up to find the group running down the streets. I even passed my Mom who asked, Anya, where are you going? I couldn't respond because I was trying to follow a person who was following a person who was foll- you get the idea. Anyway, of course we were all freaking out. We had to find this center and then we stopped midway. Then we learned by rereading our instructions that we were actually not late. We were an hour early. All of us finally relaxed, except me who was holding my back because I got cramps from running uphill. We kinda stopped at that midpoint, someone got a brownie, took a bathroom stop and we pet a friendly dog.

After petting the dog, we started heading out to the park where we were supposed to meet up with the rest of the choir and get ready for the performance. We did make it on time and we were excited to see the rest of the choir! I'm in the 7/8 grade choir but also the 6th grade choir was there. We received new choir shirts, specifically for the performance and they are navy with our choir logo. We changed into them, did a couple warm ups, practiced the national anthem and we were almost ready. We had a short break so we sat down, for a couple moments and it was go time.

It was actually one of the coolest moments in my life! First the army came to walk down the path, then some really funky cars, and then a full on Marching Band! The color-guard people were also there and performing so that was awesome! By that time, people were starting to notice and came to see the choir. "A one..two...three and go!" our choir teacher said.

We sang the song and had a blast! It was a really cool experience and my first volunteering as well! It is definitely a highlight of my life thus far and I totally want to do something like this again!

Author: Anya Kapoor