EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT IT!

For many, many years LREI had an annual Spring Fair.  I am not sure how many, but I do know that my first spring here, the spring of 1986, there was a spring fair and there was one for a number of years thereafter, and I loved it.  An event where the overriding goal was being together and enjoying each other’s company. The fair always had games, rides, a raffle, the art auction (before it got its own date), and a small silent auction (again, before the “auction” became the Shindig.)  Oh, and food, lots of food. The school’s cook back in those days was named Felicia. Felicia was a character who had a few specialties and on Fair Day the whole neighborhood smelled like delicious fried chicken.

In addition to fried chicken the fair brought the community together for a sunny, fun-filled afternoon. A time to catch up, to share fun-filled activities with your kids and their friends, and to create community (the number one goal). I remember the Spring Fair so clearly. For a number of years, I was the cotton candy guy. For a few, I ran the school store.  Whatever my job, the fair was a terrific time to hang out with the students, my colleagues, families and to be a part of the community.

I am so grateful that a hearty group of LREI parents has been working for months to create a Centennial Street Fair on Sunday, June 5, from 11:00a.m. – 3:00p.m., on Charlton Street.  Yes, THE WHOLE STREET!  So terrific to bring this tradition back to be part of our 100th birthday celebration.

I invite you to join the community on what I am sure will be a wonderful day.  Join the fun and honor the hard work of your fellow parents and a number of older students who have signed up to volunteer.  Come and reinvigorate this tradition to celebrate our 100th birthday.  I am not sure if you will be able to try Felicia’s fried chicken (though I hear Chef Eric has big plans for the big day), but I can promise your family will have a great day and will create your own LREI Street Fair memories.

LREI Centennial Street Fair

The first all-division, all-family community event in over two years!

• LREI-themed games, crafts and more

• 360-degree video photo booth

• Raffle

• Food

• Mobile Centennial Museum

• Cotton Candy and Lemonade

• And much, much more!

Sunday, June 5th 11:00a.m. – 3:00p.m.

Charlton Street

Buy Centennial Street Fair tickets every morning this week in Little Red Square.

Many of the offerings at the fair will be free and each student from the fours – sixth grade child will receive free tickets on Thursday.

PLEASE VOLUNTEER TO HELP AT THE FAIR

Click here for the sign-up sheet. 

Shifts are still available for adults and middle school and high school students.

Student volunteers (7th-12th grades only) will receive 15 free tickets and an LREI Centennial hat!

Also, check out the LREI Community Archives Timeline.

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A reminder that Friday, June 3 and Saturday, June 4 are LREI’s annual alumni reunion.  A number of the events are open to the whole LREI community.  Join us for…..

SATURDAY, JUNE 4, 2022

A Conversation with New York Nico

1:00 – 2:00 p.m. / Performing Arts Center at 40 Charlton Street / Zoom

Come together for an in-person conversation with Nick Heller ’07, including clips from some of his latest work! Nick is the 2022 Recipient of the Michael Patrick Achievement Award.

Re-enactment of Randolph Smith’s Testimony on “Subversive Influence in the Educational Process”

2:00 – 3:00 p.m. / Performing Arts Center at 40 Charlton Street / Zoom

Performed by Ann Carroll and Michel de Konkoly Thege. The testimony on “Subversive Influence in the Educational Process” took place at the hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate in September 1952. The performance will be followed by discussion on the political climate in the 1950s. Randolph “Rank” Smith was the school’s second director.

Little and Red: Coming of Age in Greenwich Village (1938-1956) 

3:00 – 4:00 p.m. / Performing Arts Center at 40 Charlton Street / Zoom

Distinguished Alumnus Jonathan Ned Katz ‘56 recalls his parents, teachers, and life at the Little Red School House in a repressive era. Katz is the author of five pioneering books on U.S. lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and heterosexual history, two books on African American history, and Coming of Age in Greenwich Village: A Memoir with Paintings. He also has a long career as a visual artist and was honored by a one-man show at New York’s Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art.