CHRISTINA EICHELKRAUT / PVT A student tries his hand at the "Bunny Toss" game. Like most carnival games, it's harder than it looks. CHRISTINA EICHELKRAUT / PVT A Hafen Elementary School Spring Carnival attendee eagerly awaits one of the balloon animals that were made to order at the event while other students look on. CHRISTINA EICHELKRAUT / PVT Two-year-old Julian Hadland pets a bunny at the Double Kid Ranch Petting Zoo which set up shop at the Hafen Elementary School Spring Carnival. CHRISTINA EICHELKRAUT / PVT Bernadette Breitenstein helps her son, Tyler, win a prize at one of the many midway games set up in the playground. Advertisement

The Hafen Elementary School playground was transformed into a fair Saturday, May 10, when the school's annual Spring Carnival, after a brief hiatus, was successfully revitalized.

There was no shortage of things for students and grown-ups alike to do at the day-long event.

Tickets were sold for 25 cents and thus became kid currency to enjoy the long list of the carnival's offerings. A plethora of games of chance and skill (most of them one ticket per try) was set up at which students could try their luck, many of which were "toss and try" games.

There were the ring toss, the bean bag toss and the hula hoop toss.

Other carnival staples included a duck pond (a wading pool filled with rubber ducks students selected at random, hoping to see a prize sticker underneath) and the chance to successfully toss a bouncy golf ball into cups of water.

There was even fishing in the desert at the doughboy pool set up in the middle of the playground.

Naturally, most of the games offered small prizes, such as a wooden airplane, to the winners.

But the midway was just one part of the expansive event.

Students could clamber all over a Pahrump Valley Fire Rescue ladder truck and even give spraying the hose a try.

The Nye County Sheriff's Office put on a K-9 demonstration after which students eagerly stood in line to meet and pet the four-legged deputies.

Pony rides and a small petting zoo (including a rabbit and a goat) were on hand for entertainment.

And as if that weren't enough, youths could get their faces painted or get a balloon animal.

Not to mention "Hafen's Most Wanted," a cardboard jail façade at which parents could get a professional photo of their students behind bars (a few sheriff's office deputies even sportingly stood by some of the "prisoners" for their photos).

Then there was the Dunk Tank, at which students eagerly lined up to watch Principal Terry Owens (wearing a large Uncle Sam hat for the event) get splashed and submerged over and over again.

The dunking seemed to be at least as much fun for Owens as it was for the students.

"You're too nice to dunk me, aren't you?" a sopping-wet Owens called out to the next student in line.

Apparently the student wasn't, and down the principal splashed for the fifth time in about 10 minutes.

"I'm going to remember you!" she jokingly called out to another student, later telling yet another successful dunker he might never get out of second grade.

All that fun is bound to work up an appetite, and hot dogs, chips, popcorn and other refreshments were also on hand.

Inside the school's multi-purpose room a silent auction was held for gift baskets collected by the classes. Also inside, those who take having a giving heart more literally than some could donate blood.

And it was all thanks to the Hafen Parent Teacher Organization (with much appreciated help from a slew of volunteers and community organizations), which brought back the Spring Carnival in full force.

Like all the events put on by the dedicated PTO, it was meant to help the school.

As such, all the proceeds from ticket sales will go right back to the school -- to be used for everything from helping to sponsor field trips to getting needed school equipment.