ROTTERDAM — The Rotterdam United Methodist Church will hold its annual fall festival this Saturday, offering free fun and activities for children.
The church’s sixth annual fall festival will take place from 10 am to 3 pm at 1915 Helderberg Ave.
“We’re the only church, I think, that does everything for free, all the activities,” said event coordinator Donna Jahnel. “This year we have two bounce houses, pony rides, arts and crafts. Every kid that comes on Saturday will take home a project. We have sand art, finger painting, all kinds of different activities for the kids.”
“Every year it gets bigger and bigger,” Jahnel said. “Now we’ve built a reputation where people say, ‘How can you have everything free for kids?’ Well, it’s a community event, there’s no charge for anything for the kids.”
Jahnel said the event could make a lot more money if they charged for children’s activities, but then it wouldn’t be a community event, he said.
Many families in the area need it, Jahnel said, so it’s nice to be able to hold an event where families don’t have to spend money for the kids to have a fun time.
The festival will have breakfast and lunch food for sale, as well as a variety of homemade soups and pies. This week the group has prepared 16 different types of homemade soup that can be purchased on Saturday. And on Friday night, homemade pies will be made for the festival’s bake sale.
The event will also feature about 30 different vendors, and pumpkins, mums and corn will be for sale, Jahnel said.
“We will also have a bake sale, a jewelry sale and a blind auction,” Jahnel said.
A blind auction keeps all bids on items secret. Jahnel said about 60 gift baskets, restaurant and business certificates and other items have been donated for the auction. Unlike a silent auction, with a blind auction, bidders place their bids in a box, so no one will know who the highest bidder is until the end of the auction.
“It’s a great community event and we have a lot of fun preparing,” Jahnel.
Categories: Life and Arts, Life and Arts, News, News, Rotterdam
