COAL GROVE — Families enjoyed the warm weather and an evening of entertainment at Dawson-Bryant Middle School on Wednesday.

The middle school and high school are hosting Family Night tonight,” high school principal Dean Mader said. “We are offering a positive activity for communities and families to participate in.”

Mader said the schools had partnered with two local organizations, NECCO and Ohio University Southern, to host the event, which featured food, games and a visit from the BARKer farm and Petting Zoo, who brought along a camel, zebu, porcupine and other animals for children to feed and pet.

Art teacher Kaitlin Donnally said she was offering a collaborative community art project.

Guests were invited to trace their handprints and decorate them. They were then to be added to a display with the slogan, “We are each unique, but, together, we are a masterpiece.”

Donnally said the completed piece would hang inside the school.

Mader said the school had hosted the event once before, three years ago, before the COVID-19 pandemic limited public events, and this was the first year it had returned.

“And that’s a positive thing,” he said. “We expect more to come after they get off work. And we’ve already had people from local businesses coming by to look at the animals.”