This year Halloween has been bigger than ever. The weekend before last, our community group joined another group to host a Fall Festival at an apartment complex in town. We like to host small events there every month or so, as a way to put the gospel on display in our community. We set up fun activities all over the commons area for kids to play and win candy. Connor and I were in charge of the Pumpkin Pull. I had never seen one of these before, but it was so fun and easy to make! All I did was drill holes in a pumpkin and stick a Dum Dum sucker in each one. As the cardboard sucker stick begins to absorb the pumpkin juice it swells and makes it more difficult to pull the sucker out, hence the name Pumpkin Pull. Each kid was able to pull two flavors, and it was fun to watch them tug loose their favorite one. Other families set up corn hole, sack races, pumpkin painting, and more. The children in the community had a great time loading up on candy treats, and we were able to start building relationships with them and their families.
A week later was Halloween Inn Our Town, a trunk-or-treat of sorts that the city and local churches put on. Main Street was blocked off at Noon, and thousands of residents lined up for candy, balloons, and face painting. Each church set up a tent to hand out candy and provided an activity. At Capstone, we decided to hand out balloons, and I built a Noah's Ark wooden cut-out for kids to take their picture with. We also planned to have a rainbow balloon arch to accompany the ark, but since the weather was poor we decided to cancel it. Even so, our tent was a huge hit! Free balloons and candy are sure winners, but it seemed like everyone was stopping for a photo as well. We were so pleased with how many folks showed up for a family friendly afternoon.