St. Mary’s Catholic School this weekend was full of the sights and sounds of children playing and parents chatting as the school hosted its annual Fall Bazaar.

Assistant Principal Christa Jackson said during the bazaar Saturday afternoon that the event is put on by the Parent Teacher Organization at the school each year to help with general funding throughout the year.

However, two specific projects that are receiving funds because of the money raised from the bazaar are the Lower School’s new science lab and the Rosetta Stone Foreign Language Lab.

“It’s really neat, especially this month,” Jackson said. “We’ve transformed the science lab into Harry Potter’s Potion Lab, where the kids are getting to watch their teachers play with dry ice and make their own fake blood along with their regular classwork.”

The school also uses the funds raised during the weekend event — and through other fundraisers throughout the year — to help keep the cost of tuition down at the school.

“We hold these fundraisers to help bridge the gap between what it actually costs for a child to attend St. Mary’s and what the parents pay in tuition,” she said. “So the parents and the school work together throughout the year on these fundraisers to keep costs as low as possible.”

She said this year’s bazaar has been larger than those in year’s past, featuring a number of arts and crafts vendors, music from Melissa Mebane and accompanying band members, inflatables, carnival-style games and a petting zoo.

“This truly was a community effort this year,” she said. “And we’ve had lots of folks come here who have never been and don’t have children currently attending St. Mary’s. So we’ve been excited to see all the new faces.”