“It was a fantastic event,” said David Boyda, Principal of Dunkirk School 5. Boyda was one of many administrators from Dunkirk City Schools in attendance. “We had a lot of support from the City of Dunkirk and our partners. The support from the community has been fantastic. It was even better this year than it was last year.”

Originally scheduled for Monday, inclement weather necessitated a move to Wednesday at Point Gratiot Park. But from the looks of things on Wednesday, the last-minute change did not put a damper on the festivities one bit.

“It’s a very special event to have so many people from the city of Dunkirk be here,” said Daniel Genovese, Dunkirk City School District Elementary supervisor, on Wednesday evening. “Bringing everybody together is just a great experience. People can mingle and just enjoy the day.”

Despite a strong breeze, the conditions were otherwise very favorable for the newly expanded event.

OBSERVER Photos by Braden Carmen Vincent Lockett, left, and his daughter Vida Lockett, attended the Back to School Bash on Wednesday evening in Dunkirk, along with Rodney Hough and his daughter Tiana Hough (right) and son Tahreem Hough (middle).

“This event really demonstrates how the community and the schools can come together. It really puts the emphasis on how important the school is to our community and how we’re going to support our families and make sure they are successful as they go through the school year,” said Adam Dolce, Executive Director of United Way.

Since last year’s event, the City of Dunkirk combined with the Dunkirk schools and the United Way to make this year’s event even bigger. Members from all parties agreed this year’s event was a success.

“This really was a great collaboration between the United Way working with the community agencies, partners, and sponsors, the school district bringing in backpacks and their administrators and teachers to support the event, and the city bringing in the entertainment and the support they can provide,” said Dolce.

Dolce stated the sponsors in the community also gave tremendous support for the event. Dolce said Walmart was a “primary” sponsor that helped provide all the food at the event and the bikes given away as prizes. The Dunkirk-Fredonia Rotary Club, Southern Chautauqua Credit Union, National Grid, DFT Communications, Refresco, Piede Brothers, and Marty’s Bubblegum Machine also contributed to support the community event.

“I think last year because of COVID, people were afraid to come out. I think this year people feel safer and we’re just going to build on this. The park is filled,” said Genovese. “I want to thank our Board of Education and our Superintendent Mike Mansfield. They sponsor this event along with the City of Dunkirk and they made it happen.”