Saugus Special Needs Festival under way

SAUGUS – The 2011 Saugus Special Needs Festival kicked off Wednesday night with amusement rides, cotton candy and other carnival favorites at the Saugus High Athletic Field.The five-day carnival and three-night concert series leads up to the Sixth Annual Agganis Special Olympics Day, which will take place Saturday.Bob Davis, Superintendent of World Series Park, first teamed up with Steve Agganis, a Saugus contractor, to hold a Special Olympics softball tournament in 2006.According to Davis, Agganis had donated his time and equipment to excavate the old baseball field that is now World Series Park and the Special Olympics event was a way to honor and thank Agganis for his work.?Bob came up to me and wanted to know how they could thank me for the help and it was around the same time that Gerry was born,” Agganis said, adding that his 7-year-old son Gerry was born with Down syndrome. “So I told him all I wanted was one day when the kids could go and play ball. So it just took off from there and we?ve done it every year since.”The First Annual Agganis Special Olympics in 2006 raised $5,700 for Special Olympics, proving to be a big success.But Davis and Agganis didn?t stop there; each year they have managed to add more fun-filled features to the event and have continued to raise more money.?We?ve changed it up every year and tried different things to figure out what worked best,” Davis said, noting that the event moved to the Saugus High Field due to its growth. “Hopefully this year we got it right and it?s an even bigger success.”The duo really ramped up the Agganis Special Olympics last year, and the day-long event was stretched into a nearly week-long festival with rides, food and entertainment.Davis and Agganis also started a new tradition of donating the proceeds to fund special needs programs and classrooms in the Saugus school system.In its first year with the added carnival, the festival raised nearly $30,000, which was used to pay for field trips for Saugus special education students, and to purchase five iPads and a classroom electronic SmartBoard for the special education program this past spring.?These kids usually just go home at the end of the school day, but with the funding the school was able to start a program on Wednesday afternoons for the kids to do different things and take trips, like go bowling. The funds pay for everything, including the aids, nurses and transportation,” Agganis said. “It?s up to us to make these kids? lives a little brighter and it?s a break for the parents too.”In addition to the carnival provided by Fiesta Shows, there will also be free entertainment under the lights of the field tonight, Friday and Saturday nights.Tonight the Saugus High Quartets will put on two shows – one at 7 p.m. and one at 9 p.m.Then, on Friday the popular Uncle Steve Band will return for the third year from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and on Saturday night the Saugus band Under New Management will perform from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Phunk Phenomenon – the local dance group that recently made it to the final four on MTV?s America?s Best Dance Crew – will also perform on Saturday night.Another feature of the festival that Davis said has attracted the crowds is the appearance of several Olympic athletes. American hockey players Sandra Whyte and Molly Schaus, American figure skater Nancy Kerrigan and Daniel McCormick of the United States Judo Olympic Team have attended the Special Olympics Day in the past.This year, Eddie Palladino, announcer for Boston Celtics games, will be the master of ceremonies at Special Olympics Day, which kicks off at 9:30 a.m. The day will begin with a softball tournament of Special Olympics teams from the area and the Saugus Special Needs students will compete in an obstacle course. Then at 11 a.m. there will be the parade of athletes and opening ceremonies with several speakers, including Special Olympics athletes.As for the amount of money Agganis hopes to raise this year, he said he just hopes to beat l