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Candy, costumes, bounce houses, and pumpkin patches are drawing families to churches across Lakeland this fall. Calendars list more than 65 fall and Halloween events across Polk County and neighboring communities — and church-hosted events attract some of the largest crowds.
At Presbyterian Church in the Highlands in south Lakeland, the annual festival has grown so much that making room for everything can be a challenge. Rev. Shaun Hartsell calls it “controlled chaos at best,” adding that organizing has become “a problem solver’s delight.”
More than 2,000 children attended last year’s festivities at Church for the One, a multi-campus megachurch, according to children’s pastor Sara Davis. This year, two “Boo Yah” Block Parties are planned, Oct. 23 at Highland Park and Oct. 24 in north Lakeland.
For children who find loud noises and large crowds overwhelming, Kathleen Baptist Church in northwest Lakeland is offering a quieter start to its Oct. 24 fall festival. A sensory-friendly session begins at 3:30 p.m., with general festivities following at 4.
More than a dozen local churches have planned fall festivals and trunk-or-treats. Their approaches raise questions beyond what games to play: How do they differ? What about Christians uncomfortable with Halloween? And how do churches balance hospitality with their mission to share the gospel?
Welcoming people in different ways
“Every child deserves the opportunity to experience the joy of being a kid, and every family deserves to feel welcome and understood and included,” said Carlos De Freitas, Kathleen Baptist’s pastor to children and families.
More than 1,500 people attended the church’s festival last year, according to De Freitas, who said welcoming so many families takes “intentional adjustments.”
The church offers a sensory room during Sunday services, and parents of children who have sensory sensitivities help guide its efforts to make activities more accommodating.
De Freitas hopes parents join in the festival fun, perhaps competing with their children at basketball or putt-putt. He joked about teaching kids “how to pay taxes to dad” by sharing some of their candy.
A different tradition shapes the celebration at Presbyterian Church in the Highlands. Its Oct. 24 event combines a children’s fall festival, pumpkin patch, and craft fair featuring more than 30 vendors, with an emphasis on handmade goods.
“The fall festival used to be separate from the craft fair,” Hartsell said. “We’ve just kind of thrown it all together, added the pumpkin patch for the month, and it’s kind of exploded because of it.”
A ‘safe alternative’ to Halloween
At 163-year-old Bethel Baptist Church, the Oct. 31 festival offers something other than traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating. The church sets up games and activity booths inside a fenced ball field, separating children from traffic.
“Not that there’s anything’s wrong with that,” family pastor Kendal Sherrouse said of traditional trick-or-treating. But some families aren’t comfortable going door to door, making Bethel’s event what he calls “a safe alternative.”
During the uncertainty of the COVID pandemic in 2020, Bethel went ahead with its festival. About 1,200 people turned out, Sherrouse recalled, forcing volunteers to ration candy to make it last.
Church for the One embraces the Halloween season with its “Boo Yah” name and sometimes-spooky decorated car trunks. But Davis draws a distinction: “We’re not necessarily trying to celebrate Halloween. We’re celebrating community.” A corn maze, a DJ, and food trucks offer other opportunities to gather.
Davis said she sees the festivals as “a starting point for families to get on our property.”
Some attendees told LkldNow they waited at least two hours during the church’s past fall events. Akin to newer theme park attractions with lengthy lines, this year’s block parties will feature interactive games like ring toss and corn hole along the trunk-or-treat route.
“We’re not trying to rush people in and out of the line,” Davis said.
Where community and faith meet
The events open a door to the churches’ religious mission, though pastors emphasize relationships rather than pressuring visitors.
“We love Jesus. We love to see people come to know Jesus,” Sherrouse said. “That doesn’t mean we have to hit you over the head with the Bible or scare you into believing, but we can just love you as you are.”
At Church for the One, the block parties welcome nearby families and give congregation members an opportunity to serve. Davis encourages church members to “make a friend and to learn their story and help them take a step toward Jesus.”
Those interactions can last long after decorations come down. Children who know one another through church activities introduce their parents, Davis said, “then sleepovers happen, and then Bible studies happen.”
For Hartsell, the same principle guides the pumpkin patch and craft fair. “We’re trying to not contain the gospel inside the four walls of the church, but to get outside and to get among the people and to bring it to our neighbors.”
Families can explore LkldNow’s curated list of 15 church-hosted fall festivals and trunk-or-treats.
Also see Lakeland Mom’s calendar of Fall and Halloween events
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