Back-to-School Festival set for Aug. 19-20

As summer break comes to an end families can get free clothes at Smokey Point Community Church’s Back-to-School Festival on Aug. 19 and 20.

The event will be at the church at 17721 Smokey Point Blvd, Arlington, and be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Aug. 19, and 9 a.m. to noon, or while supplies last, on Aug. 20.

“We have gently-used clothing from infant age all the way to high school,” said Bri Carroll, one of the main organizers of the event.

There will also be free children’s books as part of the event.

Some school supplies will be available, but families shouldn’t expect those supplies to last long during the event.

“This event is more about clothing and that’s mainly what we’ll be providing,” said Carroll.

Families do not need to register and can simply show up to receive free clothes at the event.

“No documentation is needed,” said Carroll.

“You don’t even need to live here and we have people as far away as Skagit County come,” she added.

The annual event is put on by the church to support local children.

“It was really successful last year,” said Carroll, who added they had around 500 to 700 visitors at the 2021 event.

“We had a good amount of people coming and going,” she said.

The church continues the event each year because there are a lot of families that need the support.

“Based on the outpouring of people that come to the event every year I would say there is a big need in the community for something like this,” said Carroll. “Clothing is not cheap, even if you’re buying them used."

Carroll said she enjoys supporting kids and helping to ensure that items are not thrown away.

“I love helping to organize this. I’m a big fan of things not getting wasted,” she said.

She enjoys getting to watch many of the kids who are glad to have the chance to get clothes before they go to school.

“Some of the kids leave wearing their new clothes,” she said.

Smokey Point Community Church started the event because they wanted to support local students.

“We don’t want to re-invent the wheel though,” said Carroll, who added they were looking for the areas they could help with in back-to-school events.

“Clothing was the one area that was really lacking,” she said.

More information about Smokey Point Community Church is available at spcc.tv.