The Kiwanis Club of Tattnall County hosted a Community Pumpkin Patch at the Veteran's Park in Reidsville on Saturday, October 15, 2022. More than 1,500 people filled the park throughout the day enjoying free concessions of hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza, chips cookies, and drinks as well as popcorn, sno cones and cotton candy and the delicious homemade baked goodies prepared by Gavin Willis. The Rising Sun Lodge cooked over 1,000 hot dogs and hamburgers donated by Reidsville Dairy Queen and Pinegrove Baptist Church served them all up to event goers.
Local businesses, restaurants, churches, civic organizations, government agencies, school clubs, and individuals set up booths with activities such as cookie decorating, pumpkin painting, assorted crafts, games and activities. There were custom cornhole boards, pumpkin bowling, obstacle courses, bounce house and slide, the great pumpkin hunt, needles in a haystack, pumpkin popping, can toss, and so much more.
Face painting by Sarah Smith and cotton candy by TCM Liquidations ran a close race for the most popular booths, with the longest lines of the day.
The train, borrowed from Watermelon Creek Baptist Church and pulled by John and Amy Bratcher, ran all day with smiling kids aboard.
The Georgia State Patrol, local fire departments, and Reidsville Police Department were a hit with the children as they enjoyed sitting in the vehicles and learning how everything worked. Reidsville Police Chief Stacey Wilds gave out hundreds of books to children as did our local library. The small children loved bragging that they had learned to read, and the smaller children said they were going to learn!
There were free bags, water bottles, t-shirts, lanyards, stickers, and numerous other items given out during the day, not to mention all the prizes and candy the children collected at the activity booths.
The children loved going into the "pumpkin patch" and picking out their very own pumpkin. There were over 400 pumpkins donated by Brad, Ashlea and Ward Anderson.
There were photo ops all over the park. The front porch of the Alexander Hotel was a beautiful place to take pictures, but the most photographed site in the park was the old farm truck borrowed from Malcolm Jones. Reidsville Baptist Church as well as Guarantee Signs had some amazing photo ops as well and were happy to take a picture for the families.
The Tattnall Shrine Club Bus played music during the event and children and adults alike were dancing to the "Kids Bop" that the Shriners brought just for this event.
Lindsay Renfroe and her ladies from Dancin' Divas stole the show with their wonderful entertainment during the day.
The event was from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., but there was so much to do that families said they just couldn't get around to it all. So many families commented that it was such a blessing for those who can't travel to other cities or who have multiple children and simply can't afford to take them to a paid event. This was an opportunity for everyone to enjoy themselves and tell their children YES to everything, because no one needed any money. It was all absolutely 100 percent FREE. Families could laugh and enjoy themselves without the worry of selecting which activity they could afford to do because they could afford them ALL.
This project was a give back to the community by the Kiwanis Club of Tattnall County in conjunction with many others. This will become an annual event every October and all the groups that volunteered this year said they will be back again next year.
Groups that participated:
Connection Point Church
First Baptist Church of Glennville
Grace Pointe Church
Pine Grove Baptist Church
Reidsville Baptist Church
The Dirt Church
Friendship Baptist Church
Glennville Lions Club
Rising Sun Lodge, Reidsville
Tattnall Shriners
Tattnall Family Connections
Tattnall High School Key Club
Tattnall High School REACH
Tattnall High School FCCLA
Reidsville Library
Mary's Place of GA
The Refuge
Share Health
Georgia State Patrol
Tattnall Fire Department
Reidsville Fire Department
Reidsville Police Department
Tattnall County Magistrate Court
Bratcher Racing & High Performance
TCM Contracting, Inc.
Guarantee Signs
Gavin's Goodies, Gavin Willis
Jarriel's Window Tinting
Saggus Distribution
TCM Liquidations
M Jones Trucking
Clay's Custom Creations
Reidsville Bank
Renasant Bank
The Sandwich Depot
Village Pizza
Sarah Smith
Mary Ray
Sponsors and Donations:
Brad, Ashlea and Ward Anderson
Reidsville Food Mart (Valero Store)
Dairy Queen of Reidsville
Marcos Pizza
Pepsi Distribution
Coca Cola Distribution
Food Lion
Kelly Solutions
Watermelon Creek Baptist
Church
Jesse Johnson
Kandy Hunter -Tubberware
Entertainment:
Dancin' Divas
