Whitehall-Coplay School District will be holding its third annual Family Night 5:30-8:30 p.m. April 17.

Michelle Khouri, district registrar and community relations, said she is very excited to see the results from all the hard work she and the Family Night committee have put together.

“It is a celebration of who we are as a township, borough and school district,” she said.

This is Khouri’s second year being the main organizer of Family Night. For the event’s inaugural year, she assisted in the planning. In the past, Khouri and others had desired to hold an event for the community. When Dr. Robert Steckel became superintendent, he was presented with the idea, and Khouri said he loved it.

Whitehall and Coplay residents love it, too. For the first year, 1,200 people attended. In 2023, 3,000 came to the event. This year, Khouri is hoping the number increases again.

Attendees of the 2024 Family Night will see some new features.

“We are doing a Hometown Heroes-type (highlight) with our student athletes. They will be available to meet with the crowd, sign autographs, take pictures and will show off their trophies and medals,” Khouri said.

Another new feature for 2024 is prizes.

“This year, when the families come in and check in, they all are getting a tote bag to put in all of the free stuff that they’ll be getting along the way. They’re going to get a map, so they know where all the activities are. And they’re also going to get a voucher for 10 free tickets that they can put in for different prizes. We have a bunch of baskets and gift cards,” Khouri said.

If you’d like to get five more free tickets, you can bring in a musical instrument to donate to the district’s music department.

Some of the themed baskets and gift certificates are from various restaurants, Triboro Soccer Club, Just Born and IronPigs.

Some of the businesses holding other activities include a building workshop with Home Depot, viewing Mission BBQ’s tank, pictures with Chick-fil-A’s cow mascot, a mindfulness activity with Lehigh Valley Health Network, experiments with Mad Science of Lehigh Valley and Da Vinci Science Center and more.

Some of the school clubs offering activities include making friendship bracelets with Whitehall High School Student Council, temporary tattoos from Zephyr Nation and origami lessons with WHS Book Club. Attendees will also get to have fun taking pictures in two photo booths. And don’t forget to listen to some tunes from a deejay!

WCSD also has information and activities for older adults and seniors, too. Some of the vendors at the event will be from LCCC, sharing information on its adult education classes, and Fellowship Community.

“There’s absolutely something for everybody there. The resources are incredible,” Khouri said. “Pretty much anything and everything you want to do in your community and what’s available to you is presented at that time.”

As an added bonus, the event has been extended one hour this year, so you have more time to get to all the fun activities and tables.

Other activities that have occurred at past events will continue this year as well. Those include student performances, information tables, food and beverages, learning activities and more.

Putting together an event of this size requires months of planning and action. The committee starts to meet in September for the event held the following April.

“I reach out to a bunch of community partners,” Khouri said. “Last year, I believe we had about 25 community partners, and that consists of businesses, organizations, agencies - literally anywhere from Mission BBQ to Home Depot to Lehigh Carbon Community College - so it’s just a vast amount of resources. Last year, we got about 35, and this year, I am at 45.”

Once you have the total number of community partners committed to attending, then you have to figure out where they can set up. Because there are more partners representing their entities each year, Khouri has to rearrange the setup compared to last year’s event. As more partners attend Family Night, more room is needed.

“It is a huge, huge, huge event, and I’m super proud and happy to help get it together every year. It’s always just so exciting,” Khouri said.

There are many other tasks required to pull this whole event together, such as food and refreshments, for example. In order to provide this for attendees, the committee seeks packaged and prepared food donations to be offered and served at Family Night.

If you’re a parent with a young kid, think about all the planning that’s involved with a birthday party. Now think about that planning on a much-larger scale - 3,000-plus people!

Although the task is great, Khouri said she is happy to do it.

“I really feel that in this day and age where everybody is online shopping and online communicating in our relationships that people still really want and value being able to get together in a location and speak to other people face to face, see what your community is about and interact with the people who live, operate a business or have kids who attend school in the community. I think that we as humans still do crave that interaction. To be able to provide that even just for one evening where everybody is basically coming together as community is a wonderful thing.

“I have to say I don’t see a lot of people looking down at their phones (at Family Night), which to me is always a win. For kids to be working on a project or making slime, to me, that’s the success of the night - that families and residents get to be together in a fun atmosphere and to be proud of who we are as a community. We all live here together,” Khouri said.