Prairie Fest 2025: Tailgate Party!

Prairie Fest 2025 Recap: Prairie School Foundation "Plays It Forward"

For the last four years, a special component of the Foundation’s annual Prairie Fest Fundraiser has been an opportunity to fund-a-need that has been identified by the Prairie School Administrators. This year’s need was funds to assist Prairie students who do not have the money to purchase athletic equipment, like ball gloves and cleats for their favorite sport.

Our generous guests contributed $11,935 for the Play it Forward Fund in response to a wonderful speech by Peace Mbuyi who is a Junior at PHS who participates in Rugby and Softball. In addition to these cash contributions, everyone is invited to donate new and gently used items related to all of the sports offered at Prairie.

The funds and donated items will be received and managed by Zeinab Osman (Community Engagement Specialist at Prairie), who oversees the Play it Forward sports equipment closet. She is developing a process for accepting both new and used equipment.
 
The Play it Forward funds are included in the net proceeds of over $60,000 from the Foundation’s 2025 Prairie Fest. These dollars (generated by our sponsors and guests) help provide programs, materials, and equipment not included in the College Community School District’s budget for the enhancement of our Prairie Kids' education.

Previous fund-a-need causes, starting in 2022, include “Families in Need” to provide clothing and personal items for students. 2023 fund-a-need proceeds paid off delinquent lunch accounts for Prairie Students. Last year’s fund-a-need provided dollars to purchase two take-home books for all Prairie students in Pre-K through 4th Grade.

Can't make it to Prairie Fest? That's okay! You can still register and bid on all of our Silent Auction Items! Click the link above to browse all of the items and bid on your favorites! Proceeds go to enriching the lives and education of Prairie kids!

• Dress Code – Have fun with the tailgate theme as an individual, group, or table! Shoutouts during the event to those who really show their tailgating spirit!
• Menu – Tailgate Buffet
• Games – Reverse Bingo and a Raffle for a Cooler Full of Goodies
  • Bingo tickets are 5 for $20 and raffle tickets are $20/each – CASH REQUIRED
• Entertainment – Dance and Cornhole Tournament!
• Ticket prices - $75 individuals and $1,000 corporate tables

We are grateful to our primary sponsors, OPN Architects, Cedar Rapids Toyota, T&K Roofing and Sheet Metal, and Hills Bank plus our eleven corporate table sponsors.

2024 Event Recap

We are pleased to announce that the net income for Prairie Fest 2024 exceeded $65,000 for our Prairie Kids Fund!

Three years ago we started our Fund a Need initiative asking our guests at Prairie Fest to support a special need for our students. This year we asked donors to provide “Bucks for Books.”

Our goal was to raise $10,000 to provide a take home book for every elementary student in grades K-4. Prairie generosity broke through that goal raising $17,555 for “Bucks for Books.” The foundation will add to that total to allow two forever books for those elementary students.

Pictured: Mrs. Hoeger's Kindergarten Class at Prairie Hill proudly displaying their take home "forever books" provided by the Bucks for Books initiative.

Finally, a special thank you to members of the Prairie Staff who rocked the house with their musical skills. They included Doug Wheeler, Justin Sands and Grace Huber, Kristopher Bries, Jaclyn Lussenhop, Jennifer Mc Donnell and a team of Prairie Administrators.

Congratulations to the winner of the Prairie Fest Talent Show: Kristopher Bries! Kristopher had some tough competition but won the crowd over with his performance of classic rock songs, playing guitar and singing. 

Have questions? Please contact Alicia Tjelmeland, Operations Manager, at aliciatjelmeland@crprairie.org or 712-267-9286.

Prairie Fest is the Prairie School Foundation's largest fundraising effort for the district.  Help us enhance the education of our Prairie Kids.​​​​​​​