It was a beautiful and warm day at Goett Family Park for this year’s annual Fall Festival hosted by the Southern Highlands Community Association. Held on Saturday, Oct. 15, the seasonal celebration featured Halloween-themed inflatables and carnival-style games, bounce houses and slides, a rock-climbing wall, bungee, craft and coloring contest, face painting, costume contests, plenty of pumpkins, field games, vendor booth trick-or-treating, music, food, drinks, entertainment, and plenty of fun for the whole family.

Attended by hundreds of Southern Highlands families from the surrounding neighborhoods, the free community-focused event also served as a fundraiser to benefit two local charities – Andson and Operation Warm Heart. Andson provides innovative academic and financial literacy programs for young people in Southern Nevada and Operation Warm Heart, an impactful non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to local airmen and their families at Creech and Nellis Air Force Base. Through raffle ticket sales, donations and more, $XXX was ultimately raised for Andson and X# of gas cards were purchased and donated to Operation Warm Heart.

One of the most popular happenings at the Fall Festival is the raffle. This year’s prizes included Apple AirPods, a MetaQuest 2 virtual reality headset, an electric scooter, a beginner’s telescope, Lego sets, and more.

Creativity was on full display with imaginative costumes spotted throughout the event including favorite characters from television and movies, an abundance of superheroes, pirates, scary skeletons, fairy princesses, butterflies, witches, clowns, and more. Families also enjoyed picking out the perfect pumpkin.

Having fun certainly works up an appetite. Popular food trucks including Belle Isle Smokin Barbecue, Custom Pizza, Somethin’ to Taco ‘Bout, Alpha Dawg and All We Do is Wing were on hand to keep attendees satisfied.

An official Fox 5 Take 5 to Care event guest emceed by reporters Regina Ahn and Alexis Fernandez, throughout the day, live performances from Las Vegas Circus Center and Southern Highland’s GOTTA Dance Studio kept event attendees amazed and enthusiastically entertained.

“This event is a great time for families,” said Matthew Falco, title here. “Even better, we are raising money and awareness for two very impactful non-profits here in southern Nevada. Given the backslide students faced this year, Andson’s work has never been more important, and with the large veteran and military community here, it’s important for us to support Operation Warm Heart and ensure our military families have what they need.”

It was a day filled with food, fireworks, and family fun for the 20th annual Memorial Day Celebration in Southern Highlands as more than 800 residents, family and friends came together to enjoy a fun-filled day outdoors at Olympia Sports Park.

The weather was ideal and good fun was had by all as families enjoyed great food, music, entertainment, games, a raffle and much more all leading up to the spectacular fireworks finale.

Hosted by Olympia Companies Charitable Foundation and the Southern Highlands Community Association, the annual Memorial Day event is a perennial favorite among residents to commemorate the holiday and pay homage to the brave men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces who made the ultimate sacrifice. This year’s event again supported the long-standing community partner Operation Warm Heart, an impactful non-profit organization that provides financial assistance to local airmen and their families at Creech and Nellis Air Force Base.

For the second year in a row, a talent search was conducted for a national anthem singer and local Ciana Pelekai was selected and did a marvelous job performing The Star-Spangled Banner as the Nellis Air Force Honor Guard presented the Colors.

Throughout the day, families enjoyed an abundance of activity including BINGO, inflatable games, slides and obstacle course, bounce houses and more. In addition to a DJ who kept the music high-energy, students from Circus Center Las Vegas performed a variety of aerial and circus arts acts.

After sunset, attendees and nearby residents gathered to witness the dazzling 8-minute fireworks extravaganza as it lit up the night sky.  The colorful fireworks display was synchronized to a patriotic pop playlist.

The Olympia Companies SH Charitable Foundation and Southern Highlands Community Association have long been proud supporters of Operation Warm Heart. In addition to the annual Memorial Day Celebration, other community-focused events including the Winter Festival and Tree Lighting and the Governor’s BlackTie events have also served to support this worthy organization.

Recently, the Foundation went to Nellis Air Force Base and surprised the leadership of Operation Warm Heart with a donation of $20,000 including the proceeds from the Memorial Day Celebration and more.

“What better way to celebrate Memorial Day this year than by joining together with family, friends, and neighbors,” said Brittany Kincaid, event manager. “We are so thrilled to be able to be together in person to honor the military, have fun and support such a worthwhile organization.”

In a true sign that spring is in the air, Southern Highlands recently held its annual Spring Community Yard Sale. Lightening the load in closets, garages, homes, and more, the two-day neighborhood yard sale included a drive-through mobile shredding service and a donation drive for the Opportunity Village Thrift Store. In addition to unloading their own unwanted items, residents had the opportunity to uncover new treasures by shopping their neighbors’ wares. 

As they have in the past, Southern Highlands residents delivered a variety of good-quality used furniture, housewares, and clothing for the OV Thrift Store. In its 60^th year, Funds raised at the Thrift Store benefit programs and services for adults with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, it serves as a training center for those in the program that are interested in pursuing a career in retail.  The OV Thrift Store is the organization’s oldest business and has a long-standing reputation for offering gently used items of the highest quality.  

Topping off the weekend-long spring-cleaning event, a complimentary mobile shredding station at the Southern Highlands Corporate Center shredded more than six thousand pounds of documents on site. The shredding event allowed individuals to dispose of sensitive materials while keeping their identities secure. 

Residents from more than 30 communities throughout Southern Highlands participated in the annual event, which was free and open to the entire Las Vegas Valley. The next Community Yard Sale event is scheduled for October 2-3, 2021.