ROCHESTER — The school week might have been over, but the Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School campus was buzzing with activity on Saturday, Oct. 14 during the school’s third annual Family Fall Festival.

The event, sponsored by the Old Colony Parent-Teacher Organization, rings in the fall season and is a way to “give back” to the Old Colony community, said PTO Vice President Krystle Empey.

“This is just us giving back and being thankful for everything we do,” said Empey. “[We’re] showing what the PTO does for the school.”

This year Rochester’s Troop 31 Boy Scouts manned booths where kids could try their hand at foam ax throwing and archery. The Massachusetts National Guard were also in attendance running a cornhole tournament and an inflatable obstacle course.

Rounding out the attractions: a caricature artist, Reiki practitioner, arts and crafts stands, antique car rides and a corn pit.

Old Colony PTO President Debbie Quin, who was moving from place to place at Saturday’s event to keep things running smoothly, said that the event “tries to involve [Old Colony] shops as much as possible.”

“We have a lot of kids involved this year,” she said. “We have close to 60 kids volunteering.”

This year, culinary students prepared and served food during the event and student artisans sold their crafts.

Old Colony automotive student Sophia Cruz, 16, sold hand-made bookmarks, stickers and small canvas paintings.

“I love drawing in general [and] art is one of my favorite hobbies,” said Cruz. “I’m a self-taught artist. Everything I do, I taught myself how to do.”

According to Cruz, she has been making and selling artwork “for a few years.”

“This is something I could see myself doing in the future,” said Cruz, who added that she has “had a lot of people stop by [to buy bookmarks].”

Cruz said she takes inspiration from Pinterest boards where “artists share all of their ideas.”

A few tables down, Old Colony culinary student Abigail Dawicki, 16, sold “blind dates with books” — hardcover books wrapped in brown paper with only a brief synopsis to guide prospective buyers.

“I’ve seen them all over Etsy and TikTok,” said Dawicki. “I’ve been [working on these] for two months.”

According to Dawicki, each book is new or slightly used.

“This is a way to get them off my bookshelf so I can buy more,” she said.

Before Saturday, Dawicki said she hadn’t sold anything, but made $130 in the first two hours of the festival.

According to Empey, the funds raised from admission to the festival will go toward scholarships given out by the PTO. She estimates that the PTO gives out “five or six” $1,000 scholarships every year.

“We have such a strong PTO because Old Colony is such a great school for our students,” said Quin. “This is a fun day to give [to] everyone.”