Fall Family Festival
Saturday, October 29
Mars Hill Ballard
11 a.m. to 4 p.m.‎

Few days in the year are more exciting for a little kid than Halloween. But before the kids get to dump their gravid candy bucket on the floor and watch it all form a sprawling saccharine mound, we’ve got one of our biggest, most fun, free community events at the Ballard church tomorrow: the Fall Family Festival.

Veteran attender EJ, 4, at this point seems primarily fixated on the chance to get to wear his costume at tomorrow’s fest. “I’m gonna be Thor!” he yelled. When asked what he was most excited about for the festival, he said, “I have a cape!”

His brother Bennett, 5, said he’s most excited for the bouncy houses and that he’s also hoping for a redemptive trip to the fishing booth after disappointment last year. “I won a fish last year. But I wanna get one this year that doesn’t die,” he told us.

This afternoon will be so jam packed with larger-than-life excitement, that it’s hard to imagine this will all take place in 5 short hours. Here’s the rundown:

Giant Interactive Toy Story Maze

We’ll have our famous giant interactive live maze! Walk through the maze and meet live characters from the Toy Story movies that the kids can talk to and interact with. Buzz, Woody, and Jessie will all be there. Sid, rest assured, will not be. (But watch out for Lots-O!)

Giant inflatables

Want to let your kid bounce out a few thousand calories with the other rugrats? Throw them in one of the seven giant inflatables we’ll have set up, including:

• Giant monster truck
• Blue castle
• Giant slides (2 of them)
• Obstacle course
• Soccer field

(No, an inflatable soccer field makes no sense conceptually to us either, but apparently looks something like this.)

Carnival booths

Need a break from bouncing? Let the munchkins sit in a chair and catch their breath while they wield a paintbrush or let one of our special artists wield one on them at one of the nine carnival booths we’ll have set up, including:

• Plinko!
• Wacky Hair
• Cake Walk
• Bottle Toss
• Toss Game
• Pumpkin Painting
• Fishing Booth
• Tattoo Parlor
• Face Painting

(We’ll leave the option combining the latter two booths for face tattoos up to the parents’ discretion.)

Fire Engine

From 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. the local Fire Department is bringing by a Fire Engine for the kids. If your kid plans on testing the flammability of any hair product they have as part of their costume, please encourage them to do it during these 90 minutes when the firemen will be in close proximity.

The Goods

There will, naturally, be lots of candy, as well as other snacks for the kids (and their parents) during the afternoon.

Come one, come all!

This is a free community event, and all families are welcome*. It will also only be a fall festival, so there will be no preaching or anything like that—just costumes, candy, and calorie burning.

We’d love to have you! And Happy Halloween.

*Note: As this is a family event, adults without children will not be admitted.

If you have any questions about tomorrow’s event, send an email to ballardkids@marshill.com.