A "Messtival" Festival at Farmingdale Public Library

August 30, 2025

A “Messtival” Festival Day at Farmingdale Public Library

On August 19, members of the Women’s Club of Farmingdale (WCF) joined Megan Peace, CASE Director, her associates, and the special needs adults who make up the CASE Program at the Farmingdale Public Library to make decorations and paint and embellish signs for the tables and stations which made up the first-ever “messtival festival.” CASE (Connections and Social Empowerment) is a fairly new program that gives special needs adults in the Farmingdale School District community a space to socialize and engage in fun and educational and rewarding activities across a wide range of subjects.

The actual “Messtival” was held on August 26 outdoors in the library’s back parking lot. The library run program welcomed children from within the district to register and participate. Each table/station was run by a CASE member, their staff and a WCF member. It consisted of areas of wet activities such as painting with yarn and blowing bubbles and dry activities such as making an egg carton goldfish and sand art and games. Each activity had multiple stations so that a large number of participants could be accommodated. The “Messtival” was well-received and children and adults alike had a great time.

The CASE Program meets every Tuesday from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. Some of their activities include virtual field trips, like a visit to the San Diego Zoo with live exhibit cameras of animals in their natural habitat and “Shut the Door on Hunger,” a WCF program committed to reducing food insecurity for students when schools are closed for holiday and school breaks. The CASE participants helped with organizing, packing and distributing the donated food items.

Then on Thursday, August 28, members of the WCF, St. Kilian’s Church and Choir, and community volunteers entertained guests at the Farmingdale Adult Day Care Center with patriotic and classic songs like: Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Take Me Out to the Ball Game, You Are My Sunshine, the Star Spangled Banner and God Bless America. Over the years, this holiday has also come to mark the “unofficial” end of summer.

Accompanying the singers were Rita Padden, former Fine Arts Director in the FSD, on keyboard and her husband, Tom, on guitar and singers from the women’s club, St. Kilian’s Choir and the community.

The Women’s Club of Farmingdale, a local 501-C-3 non-profit organization, is always interested in welcoming new members. For more information, please email: lyndaleone@gmail.com or jude523@aol.com. #IAMGFWC

submitted by Maria Ortolani, Publicity Chair