Principal Newsletter // September 16th, 2025

Sep 15

Dear Appleton Community…

Carnival Success!

The Annual Appleton Carnival was a great success! We weren’t so sure we could pull it off, with an hour-long power outage and threatening winds and rain. But the skies cleared, the power came back on, and we were once again able to have this wonderful tradition. It was a fun event that builds community connections, a sense of belonging, and aids the Appleton P.T.A.’s efforts to support so many of the programs that benefit your children.

Thank you for all of your cake donations.

Thank you to all of the staff members and volunteers who covered booths, the food area and the big cleanup afterwards.

Thank you for getting donations for the silent auction. Our biggest one ever!

Thank you to all of the silent auction donations.

Of course we couldn’t have this much fun without the hard work and dedication of the P.T.A. members, teachers, and parents who volunteered their time to make this event so successful.

Thank You Volunteers and Game Donations

Fellowship Church - Three of our most popular games (Plinko, Fill It Up, and the Crazy Puzzle) were donated once again. Thank you Pastor Shaun for the donations and loading them up.
Bump n Jump - Both bump n jumps were donated by owner Mike. Contact him at 970-208-3967 for your next party. His donations over several years have saved us so much money and have made the event so much fun!
Fruita High School, Palisade High School, Grand Junction High School & Redlands Middle School student volunteers. These young people supported several games and stations and helped us throughout the evening.

Special Thanks To:

Vanessa Bradley – P.T.A. Vice-President & Carnival Coordinator. Vanessa spent over 100 hours organizing, making phone calls, and providing labor so we could have a great event. Truly deserves everyone’s thankful admiration.

Vanessa Bradley,Kaylene Walterscheid, Kim Buczek, Amanda Builteman, Vonda Kunz & Sarah Weber - Silent Auction Organizers & Donation Team - So many others of you searched all over the community to get donations. There are so many of you, I’d hate to miss someone but know that your specific efforts have supported your children with several thousand dollars in donations.

Ronda Nelson & Amy Park - These ladies took over the dinner planning when the inclement weather looked like it was going to shut us down.

Clayton Newitt & Hunter Buniger - Cleanup/Custodial Team. Cleaning up for over 1,500 people in a short time frame is a huge job.

Joe Kuta – P.T.A. President (Did you see him flipping burgers?)

Brooke Bray - P.T.A. Treasurer (Miss Do it all -in charge of prize acquisition, point of sale, flipped burgers and dozens of hours of volunteering)

Blubee Media & Jared Johnson - Carnival music man and newsletter editor.

The Appleton Staff - Lots of extra hours organizing and volunteering for this event. For many, Friday was a 14 hour day; some came in on the weekend, as well.

An event this big takes lots and lots of work and partnerships. Everyone who participated in this event deserves a big Appleton THANK YOU!

More Carnival Winners!

We will be contacting all winners of Pie in the Face bids, Front Row Seats at Programs, Ice Cream with the Principal, and other bids very soon.

We do have the winners for the Estimation Jars contests and the totals:

Amount in Each Jar: Winning Guesses:

Jar #1 Bubble Gum theme – 283 Wyatt Eccles – 282

Jar #2 Air Head theme - 157 Henry Xiang - 156

Jar #3 Hot Tamales theme– 711 Addie Osborne - 581

City Market Fundraiser - Please Register Your Value Card!

Simply by registering your City Market Value Card, our school can earn a percentage of all purchases you make. We have earned thousands of dollars for our PTA through this low effort moneymaker.

For digital accounts:

1. go to citymarket.com, log in with your username and password.

2. On the right hand side is your account name drop down, select "My Account"

3. On the left hand side menu select "Community Rewards"

4. Search by typing in "Appleton" in the search bar, hit enter.

5. Select the "Enroll" button for Appleton Elementary Parent-Teacher Association.

Congratulations you are now signed up to earn money for Appleton Elementary Parent-Teacher Association

1. Open City Market App on your phone

2. Select the three lines in the upper right hand corner (hamburger)

3. Select "rewards" from the dropdown menu

4. Select "community rewards"

5. search for organization: type: Appleton

6. select "Appleton Elementary Parent Teacher Association

7. Hit the 'enroll" button

This is such a simple way for our school to raise important funds, doesn’t cost you anything and takes only seconds to connect. Thanks for helping Appleton students!

Go Bookworms!
Corey Hafey

Appleton Elementary School

2358 H Road Grand Junction, CO 81505

Phone (970) 254-6400 Fax (970) 243-6604

Corey Hafey - Principal

Todd Witzel - Assistant Principal

Lisa McClelland / Angie Wallace - Secretary