The Pacer Spirit Committee will hold its first Pacer Fest of the 2024-2025 school year on Aug. 9 and aims to promote the teams and clubs that will compete in the fall season.

Sixth grade teacher and Pacer Spirit Committee member Brooke Brenner, who is one of the organizers of the upcoming event, said scheduling prevented the event from being tied with First Friday like previous years, but there will be four food trucks to help families “make a whole evening out of it.”

The event will include the traditional pep rally focused on highlighting and promoting students participating in fall activities.

“We had a really good athletic season last year at Hayes. There were so many accomplishments,” Brenner said. “We’re excited to celebrate them and kick off another incredible year for our school district.”

Brenner said there will be activities for younger children like games and temporary face tattoos.

“I have a five- and eight-year-old, so we’re trying to make sure we’re catering to all these ages,” Brenner said.

The Grand Pacer Marching Band will perform part of its upcoming halftime show, she added, and members of the Hayes cheerleading squads will also perform at the rally. Brenner said the cheerleaders will pass out some free shirts from Homestretch Apparel, and the event will have other prizes and a raffle.

The goal of the event, for Brenner, is to bring the district and community together.

“I’m hoping that we go into the school year as one district and one community,” Brenner said. “That’s something that’s really special about our district. We have that one high school and one town, and we can go into the school year really united as one strong community.”

Brenner hopes the rally will lead to increased attendance at fall events for all the teams.

“Our hope has always been that this event will encourage people to attend more events throughout the school year and support programs they wouldn’t normally support,” she said. “It’s easy to get people to come to a Friday night football game, but it’s not as easy to get people to go to a tennis match or a volleyball game. We’re hoping this will encourage people to get out there and support all our student athletes. We hope it shows the younger kids what they can look forward to.”

This will be the third fall Pacer Fest that Brenner has organized, and she said she’s proud that it’s become an event people get excited about.

“It’s something people look forward to and talk to us about when they run into us,” Brenner said. “I love the joy that it brings to everybody and the excitement, and (how it) showcases the best of the best. These are the role models and leaders in our district, and I think that’s a great thing for everyone to see. I’m excited to see the community show up, have dinner and support our kids. It’s an optimistic way to kick off the school year and show we are Delaware, and we are one.”

Glenn Battishill can be reached at 740-413-0903.