By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Staff Writer

JEMISON – Jemison First Baptist Church held its annual fall festival on Wednesday, Oct. 12, from 6-8 p.m.

A few hundred people showed up to the community wide event in support of the fall season.

Pastor Rex Kent said the event continues to grow each year and this year they decided to plan for 800 people to show up, a decision that he had to be happy with after seeing the turnout.

“It’s incredible to see the turnout we get and the fun that people have,” Kent said. “My first year here they told me there would be around 600 people show up and I honestly didn’t believe them. Sure enough we had 600 people show up and I just couldn’t believe my eyes.”

Kent has been the pastor at Jemison First Baptist for the past seven years and has loved seeing the people come out and not just support his church, but just come together as a community.

The event brought families together for a night of fall fun, some kids dressed up in Halloween costumes and others just came for the activities, which were aplenty.

Kids enjoyed winning prizes at the bake walk, giving their best shot at cornhole, taking each other on as gladiators, sliding down the many inflatables and tackling obstacle courses.

While the line for the large inflatable slide was by far the longest, many of the events offered prizes for the children, including cornhole and the bake walk.

“It’s just an event for families and kids to come have fun together,” Kent said. “We enjoy seeing people of all ages come out and have a good time.”

The church also offered concessions such as hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, drinks and other snacks.

Kent gave a brief sermon at one point, saying that is one thing he likes to do at each year’s festival.

“It takes a lot for our folks to put this event on and it does them good to serve,” he said. “This reminds us all that it’s not just about ourselves, but giving back to others and serving them and the Lord.”

Kent said the same thing about all of the student involvement in the festival, saying they are a tremendous help and it teaches them great responsibility about serving others.

“As much work as it takes, everybody really enjoys putting this event on each year,” he said.

It was another successful year for the Jemison First Baptist Fall Festival and you can bet Kent is looking for it to become even bigger next year as he looks to continue to bring the community together.