A Brief History of Fall Festival at FBC Starkville

1995
According to JoAnn Thomas, a former Director of the Creative Learning Center, Fall Festival was started in the mid-1990s by Karen Teague. Teague, along with a small group of moms at FBC, initiated the idea of a Family Fall Festival at FBC. They wanted to offer something safe for the children in the church and in the community to do on Halloween instead of trick-or-treating. The church became the natural place to host Fall Festival.

Teague also enlisted JoAnn and the CLC staff to come alongside them to help with the work of planning and running the actual event. And for many years the CLC staff took charge and were heavily involved with the event. The initial event was held in the church fellowship hall, which is currently the bottom floor of the Ray Building.

“The church was very supportive (of Fall Festival). We had so much candy that we gave it away to every child activity for the remainder of the year, even after we gave handfuls out on the night of the festival.” --JoAnn Thomas

2004
Fall Festival moves under the umbrella of FBC’s Children’s Ministries. It is still held in the church’s fellowship hall and still has the mission of providing an alternative Halloween activity for families in the church and in the community.

2006
With the acquisition of the Van Landingham hardware store property, FBC moves Fall Festival to the hardware store’s empty warehouse on Jackson Street. All of the games and inflatables were set up in this warehouse. This was pre-renovation of the Warehouse facility and there were no walls, rooms, kitchen, bathrooms, gym, etc. in the warehouse; it was completely open. The weekend before the event could take place, the warehouse had to be rid of pigeons and a local fire department offered to do a “training exercise” in the warehouse so that they could hose the floor down and make it clean enough for people to walk on. Porta-potties and lights also had to be rented for the evening of Fall Festival.

2007
While the Vanlandingham building was undergoing renovations, Fall Festival relocated to the old hardware store on the corner of Lampkin and Jackson Streets. The event utilized every square inch of space that it could and became very crowded, especially during a sudden and quick rainstorm.

2008
Fall Festival relocated to the Warehouse Outreach Center, enjoying its beautiful new facility and welcomed the Starkville community to come in and see the newly renovated space.

Fall Festival continued to grow and reach the Starkville Community. It boasts over 1,000 attendees each year and takes on some of the Vacation Bible School themes for those years such as Big Apple Adventure and Amazing Wonders Aviation.

2013
Fall Festival tried to change to a “Trunk or Treat” style event where booths would be set up in the parking lot for children to “trick-or-treat” to. Unfortunately, an extremely stormy week necessitated that all of the games, inflatable jumpers, and attractions move back inside the Warehouse. The end result was a return to FBC’s traditional Fall Festival.

2015
Among concerns for safety during the construction of the Children’s Building, Fall Festival took a hiatus.

2017
Fall Festival returns and continues to minister to families within the church and the Starkville Community.

A Unique Way to Minister to our Community

What do you get when you combine lots of candy, carnival games, and toy prizes with a desire to minister to families, reach the Starkville community, and share Christ’s love?

Fall Festival, of course!

Fall Festival, a one-night event, is held each October at the FBC Warehouse. It is a great event where FBC volunteers have the opportunity to minister to families both in the church and in the Starkville community. This year, FBC will hold Fall Festival on Wednesday night, October 30, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm.

The idea behind Fall Festival is to provide families and their children a safe place where they can play carnival-style games, win candy and toy prizes, and dress up in fun costumes, and where they can interact with church members in a fun, fall-themed environment. To add to the fun, there will also be inflatable jumpers, an obstacle course, a petting zoo, and food.

Halloween can be scary for young children. But at Fall Festival, you will see smiling pumpkins, hay bales, autumn leaves, friendly scarecrows, farm-themed decorations, and a very kid-friendly event. We leave out the scary images from Halloween and focus on all things associated with Autumn.

Volunteers are the backbone of making Fall Festival a reality. To put on an event of this magnitude requires 75-100 volunteers. In the past few years, our volunteers have mainly come from the university and youth ministries, along with median and senior adults. The willingness of these age groups to step up and run the event makes it possible for families with children to come and enjoy the evening together without having to help at Fall Festival. Volunteer registration will be available at fbcstarkville.com/events.

Ways That You Can Be Involved

Pray: for the event, for the families who will attend, for the volunteers, for safety.

Donate individually wrapped candy (donation boxes are in the Cove).

Volunteer: Parking lot duty, man the inflatables and obstacle courses, sell food tickets, help in the kitchen with food preparation and service, work a game booth, help with set-up, or come late as soon as the event is over and take down everything

What to Know Before You Come to Fall Festival

Doors will open at 5:30 pm

Parking will be in front of the Warehouse, in the gravel parking lot next to the Warehouse, and over by the Children’s Building. The lot directly behind the Warehouse (next to the railroad tracks) will be closed for inflatable jumpers.

Food will be sold at a nominal cost: hotdogs, chips, popcorn, tea/lemonade.

Children are encouraged to wear friendly costumes. Try to stay away from scary attire that may scare younger children.

Rain does not cancel the event, though the number of outside inflatables may be reduced. Parents are encouraged to remain with their children and to participate with them in the events.