NATCHEZ — Students, staff, family and community members all came together Saturday to have a good time and raise funds for the Holy Family School.

The school has a yearly carnival, and Saturday children played in the carnival’s midway, which featured face painting, a go-fishing game, a milk-toss, a cakewalk and many other perennial carnival games.

Outside the schoolyard, members of the Holy Family Choir and the Knights of Peter Claver grilled take-out dinners that the school sold Saturday evening for $5.

The school also had an auction in conjunction with the carnival.

DJ Joe Wallace provided music.

The carnival is a major and long-running fundraiser for the school, carnival chair Faye Barnes said.

“I have been working with the carnival for 21 years now, and it was going on long before that,” she said.

Holy Family Principal Rosa Demby said the fall fundraiser has received lots of help from outside the school.

“We received lots of community support and lots of (church) parish support,” she said. “We usually have a big turnout.”

That support came in several ways, from parents donating their time to church members helping out to local businesses giving goods, Demby said.

“We get lots of participation from local merchants who donate merchandise for our auction,” she said.

Holy Family School was founded in 1890, and currently serves 174 students ages 2 – fourth grade.