COAL GROVE — Coal Grove Patrolman Mike Ferguson wasn’t sure just what Police Chief Jason Bloomfield was getting him into, except that it involved dessert.

“I thought Jason was getting me into a cake and pie throwing contest,” Ferguson said. But no, as it turned out, Bloomfield offered his patrolman as one of three judges in the cake and pie contest at the annual Memorial United Methodist Church Block fall festival and block party Saturday.

Ferguson got to help select a winning cake (strawberry) and winning pie (blueberry) in the church bakeoff. “I’m ecstatic,” Ferguson said when he learned what he was really there for.“I love the outreach we do,” Pastor Brad Jenkins said. “We offer it free of charge. There is fellowship. It’s a day of being able to come and talk to each other. And we meet new people every year.”

That sentiment was echoed by parishioner Beverly Gillen.

“I love people and you see everyone here. And maybe we’ll get some new people to attend church,” she said.

Live music was meshed with games and kids’ activities throughout the afternoon, along with hot dogs, soup beans and corn bread and those cakes and pies.

At the edge of the church parking lot sat a dunk tank and Jenkins promised to take his turn sitting on the platform. Might those parishioners get revenge for a sermon too long? Maybe not. At the church fall festival, even the dunk tank seemed more friendly than fiendish.

“Yep,” Jenkins mused. “ I’ll get a nice dip.”