Family nights are a fairly common occurrence for the Naval Avenue Early Learning Center Parent Teacher Association (PTA), but this time, things are just a bit different, according to Liz Black, Naval’s PTA president.

“The school sponsors certain nights like a reading night, math night and even a science fair night,” Black said. “On that night we even had Reptile Man (Scott Petersen). The school organized the family night, but the PTA actually booked Mr. Petersen.”

While the school does its best to organize these family gatherings, the PTA organizes quite a few as well.

“We organized a Santa night too,” Black said. “But we had it in January and Santa wasn’t able to make it due to the bad weather we were having, so we had Frosty instead.”

The Cinco de Mayo family night also will be a bit late as it is actually going to be on May 6 rather than May 5, according to Black.

“We are a PTA, we are a school,” Black said. “We don’t have a lot of funds. Getting a band on the fifth…we have to keep our costs down.”

The PTA did manage to book musical talent for the night.

“We are having the Bolero Trio,” Black said. “They do Hispanic folk music.”

The leader of the group, Alejandro Fleites, gave the PTA a discount to help out with costs.

The plan for the evening is to have free food, carnival games and some cultural crafts, according to Black.

An area restaurant also helped the PTA out with the event.

“Rafael Brambila of Taqueria Los Cazadores in East Bremerton is donating about $200 worth of food,” Black said.

The main purpose of family night is to increase family involvement, she added, but this particular night is about celebrating diversity and the new spanish immersion program.

The PTA is still looking for donations of food, pinatas and other items that might be part of a Hispanic celebration. Anyone interested in helping out is asked to make donations by Wednesday, April 29. The PTA can be reached by e-mail at navalavenuepta@gmail.com.