First United Methodist hosts alternative fall festival
Published 12:00 am Sunday, November 1, 2020
- First United Methodist volunteers use a “candy chute” to deliver treats to children in cars during the church’s recent fall festival.
Families and volunteers celebrated the changing of seasons and Halloween on Wednesday at First United Methodist in downtown Salisbury.
The socially distant, family friendly event was originally scheduled to be hosted on Church Street and the front lawn of the church before rain decided to move through the area.
While some of the games (including the perennial favorite, cake walk) couldn’t happen this year, the rain didn’t damper the spirits of the event. A steady flow of cars made its way up to the porte cochère. There were treat bags filled with pre-packaged treats, glow sticks, tattoos and candy. Volunteers were at the ready to hand out treat bags, pumpkins and candy delivered through “candy chutes.”
First United Methodist volunteers use a “candy chute” to deliver treats to children in cars during the church’s recent fall festival.
“It was such a wonderful opportunity for our church to share love and fun with our community. We went from plan A to plan B before pulling off Plan C, which was both socially distanced and still exciting for our youth, volunteers and trick or-treaters that came through. It was heartwarming during such a tough year to be able to do community outreach with such a great turnout,” said volunteer Amy Foote.
An estimated 80 children came through the festival over two hours. Mostly drive ups, there were also those who got out of their vehicles to walk through and show off their costumes.
Youth Director Jen Fogt said, “Watching our youth and adults working together to bring joy and fun to 80+ children was so exciting. They did a wonderful job working together, and a few more of our youth helped behind the scenes by packing treat bags the week before. I couldn’t be prouder of them.”
“We were really excited for the opportunity to be able to reach out to our community again this year through the Fall Festival. While we didn’t get to go with our original plan, I am so grateful that we were still able to connect with the children in our congregation and in our community. The drive-thru also gave our volunteers the opportunity to speak with almost everyone who attended, which is not always the case when we are all gathered together inside,” said Bailee Weisensel, director of children’s ministry.
