KINGSTON TWP. — Anyone driving past Back Mountain Harvest Assembly Oct. 23 could see the Spongebob Squarepants bounce house on the crest of the hill in front of the church. While it didn’t exactly look liturgical, it did convey “community,” the message and the mission of the day’s event.
The Back Mountain Harvest Assembly filled its parking lot and a good deal of the surrounding area with its Fall Fest and Food Truck “Fare” Sunday evening. That’s after rainy weather cancelled the original plan for Saturday.
“There’s no admission cost, no fund-raising or anything like that. We just wanted to have something fun for the local community,” said Children’s Pastor Linda Sapack. “And we’d like people to get to know us. Besides, it gives our own church members a chance for some good fellowship.”
It’s not the first time a fall fest went on at the church, but this year’s event was the first huge outdoor celebration. And it was the first time the food trucks played a part. Over the three hours, nearly 400 people made their way up the hill for the fun.
Patrons filled chairs and tables near the trucks to munch on treats from Triple S Gourmet, Southwest Savory Grill or Manning’s Ice Cream truck.
Visitors started by lining up at the “welcome” table to get tickets for prize drawings and wristbands for the usual carnival games, bounce houses and face-painting that kids of all ages enjoy.
Anyone with a competitive streak could take in a checker game that used pumpkins, although no one was really sure how to “king” the pumpkin that made its way across the board. And there was pumpkin tic-tac-toe for the non-checker crowd.
Kids and their adults could climb onto the trailer for a truck-drawn hayride to the nearby field for pumpkin-pickin’.
A couple of church members from Sweet Valley opened an unplanted field for pumpkin planting. They used the church’s Facebook account to send out updates on the crop throughout the summer.
And just before the fest, a crew hauled the boom harvest of 400 of the orange orbs to the field on the hill near the Rock Solid Academy where the under-12 set could pick one (or maybe two if they were small) to take home.
“I’m gonna carve mine when I get home,” said 6-year-old Christian Jones, of Dallas. His dad, Clint, who toted the pumpkin roughly the size of a basketball on steroids, said he only helps with cutting the top off and drawing the design and Christian does all of the carving himself.
Other kids took their pumpkins to a long table near the face-painters where they could paint or otherwise decorate their trophies.
On the other side of the hill, Senior Pastor Ray Petts, in a natty bowtie, and his Morgan horse provided buggy rides as a special treat.
And one of the biggest attractions of the whole afternoon was the pie-throwing booth where all comers could heave a pie plate full of whipped cream at one of the church’s pastors.
Assistant Pastor Jack Rehill took the first shift draped in a clear plastic sheet, and added a lace-trimmed orange shower cap and purple swim goggles. Somehow, though, a lot of whipped cream got all over his sweatshirt anyway.
Rehill said his wife, Patty, came up with the idea for the booth and talked him into going first.
Patty Rehill said she wanted to throw the first pie, but got beaten out by Alura McVaugh, 10, from Nanticoke, who scored a bulls-eye on the pastor’s noggin.
“We don’t get a prize at this booth,” the young girl said. “It’s just for the satisfaction. And it was fun.”
Church member Jody Hummel, who oversaw the event, also supervised construction of the colorful booths that housed the carnival games – and then he designed the games, like plinko, ring toss, bean bag toss, foul shooting and trying one’s pitching arm to knock over cans. All of the games had some kind of prize connected to them.
People at the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly church have a long tradition of hosting community events, and this could turn into yet another regular one on the calendar.
“It’s simple,” said Chris McNaney, Student Ministries Pastor, whose young flock helped to man the booths, shepherd visitors around the fest and guide cars to parking spots. “We’re holding a nice party to show the community we love them.”
