Festival bring Coal Grove together

Published 12:00 am Monday, September 3, 2007

COAL GROVE — Games, dunk tank, health fair, inflatable jump house, music all day and lots of free food made up the Fifth Annual Community Fall Festival at Memorial United Methodist Church in Coal Grove on Saturday.

“We started out just wanting to invite the community, so people could get to know their neighbors and introduce our church to them,” said Sally McFarland, one of the organizers of the event.

About 30 people worked at the event. People wandered in and out throughout the day and children played all day.

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A traditional watermelon contest, a seed-spitting contest and a pie and cake bake-off were also on the agenda for the day.

“Our main thing is to get the community together and to know each other,” McFarland said. “People are spreading apart so far now and you don’t know your neighbors and we want that in our community.”

Wally Christian country gospel singer and Alloyed contemporary Christian band performed all afternoon.

“We’ve had to go get more food a couple of times because we’ve had a bigger crowd than expected,” Angie Haynes, of Coal Grove. “The neighborhood’s really come out. It’s been a really good turnout.”

The church has two services, one traditional and one contemporary, on Sunday mornings.

“You got to change with the times, I guess,” Haynes said. “It’s easy to get my kids out of bed. …They’re ready to go anytime.”