ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
October’s second half is typically the height of the fall season, and as part of autumn, pumpkins can be seen everywhere from the front porches of homes to the patches they are grown in and many other locations.
Wednesday night, Liberal’s New Beginnings Church was the temporary home of some pumpkins, temporary because what happened over the course of one hour saw the destruction of those pumpkins.
The church received a donated batch of pumpkins, and for a small price, NBC youth could purchase a pumpkin and smash it, all in an effort to raise money for some of the church’s upcoming event.
Norris said church leaders got the idea from one of the primary sights of the season itself.
“We were trying to think of something that was creative with fall and pumpkins,” she said. “We were like this would be super fun. Teenagers love to smash things.”
Youth Pastor Bailey Norris said she and others had fun watching not only teens, but children and even church deacons take out their aggressions on the pumpkins.
“It’s great,” she said. “They had a fantastic time. With a lot of them, they clearly had some stuff they needed to get out. Hopefully, they found it beneficial.”
This coming Wednesday, NBC is hosting its annual Fall Festival, and Norris said those night’s services will be cancelled to allow teens to help out with the event. She added this and other October events give people some great alternatives for Halloween.
“It’ll be super fun,” she said.
Norris said she was quite pleased with the turnout of Wednesday night’s pumpkin smash, and so were those who participated.
“I think they did great,” she said. “I think they all had a lot of fun. There was a lot of good feedback.”
