By admin 
Sacramento students and their families left a Natomas park with more than just backpacks on Wednesday. Between free snow cones, games and community resources, thousands of kids got a head start on the new school year.
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Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty, Councilmember Karina Talamantes and Assemblymember Maggy Krell, D-Sacramento, teamed up to host the event at Northgate Park for the fourth consecutive year. Organizers handed out 2,600 backpacks to local students, up from about 1,500 in its first year.
The Bee’s back-to-school Q&A and donation drive: Join us on Tuesday, Aug. 4, from 6 to 7 p.m. to hear from our education reporters on what to know before the school year starts. While the event is free, we encourage attendees to bring a school supply to donate. See the school supply list and RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-bees-back-to-school-supply-drive-and-qa-tickets-1995020542146
Backpacks weren’t the only free items offered — families enjoyed hot dogs, snow cones, games and fresh hair cuts, all without getting out their wallets.
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“Families are living paycheck to paycheck in Sacramento and people are truly feeling the prices at the pump, prices at the grocery store, prices in back to school shopping,” Talamantes said. “If we can help ease the stress of the back-to-school season by a little bit with a free haircut, free resources, a backpack — I think it goes a long way.”
McCarty’s favorite part of the event is the bike raffle. Between Tuesday council meetings he drove to south Sacramento to pick up three bikes that were slated to be raffled off at the backpack drive.
“This is a thing I really believe in,” he said.
Families lined up in the 95-degree heat to pick out backpacks, all of which were stocked with pencils, paper and other school supplies. Mother Angela Chandler said that it would have been hard to afford new backpacks and supplies for all her kids without the drive.
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“It would have been harder in many ways,” she said.
This story was originally published July 30, 2026 at 6:45 AM.