Amidst dinosaurs and inflatable slides, Halloween will come a night early for children at the Vine Community Church in Carbondale.
Lead pastor Sándor Paull said the church will use all of its 36,000 square feet to host a Jurassic-themed Halloween party for children, which will take place from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday.
“The plan that we have is to create the dinosaur exhibit — the Smithsonian,” Jennifer Quinn said, the Vine’s children’s director. “So, hopefully, to make this place look like a dinosaur has definitely been here.”
Paull said they would host the event the night before Halloween so parents can take their children out for trick-or-treating Saturday.
Mike Berardi, an associate pastor overseeing the event, said the contained environment would be comforting for parents.
“Me being a parent of two kids, I know there seems to be a lot of high school kids that go out and go trick-or-treating,” Berardi said. “It’s more of a safe alternative for kids.”
Paull said this is the ninth year for the event.
Berardi said there were about 500 children in attendance last year, which he expects to double this year. He said the church sent about 4,000 invitations, including invitations to all local grade schools.
As the event gains popularity, the need for volunteers grows, he said.
Quinn said there are about 500 volunteers setting up throughout the week and around 150 volunteers for the event itself.
“The church has grown but the event has also grown along with it,” Berardi said. “This is by far the most people that have helped out.”
Paull said the various activities featured at the event include inflatable slides, games, a scavenger hunt, a dunk tank, a bonfire and hay rides.
The church started working on ideas in July and has spent a month building sets, Quinn said. She was especially excited for a Jurassic-themed inflatable playpen that is 30 feet long, 30 feet wide and 16 feet high, she said.
Berardi said he went to Universal Studios in Florida to research and gather ideas for the event.
“Every kid I’ve ever met loves dinosaurs,” Berardi said. “Because it is a kid’s event and kids like dinosaurs, then we’re just going to have fun with that.”
Quinn said they are also building their own dinosaur, which will be about 20 feet long and 12 feet high. To create it, she said they put together a three-dimensional dinosaur jigsaw puzzle, enlarged all the individual pieces, cut them out of foam board and put them back together.
Paull said the church even tried to make their own dry ice because smoke machines set off the fire alarms.
Quinn said the budget for the event was between $3,000 and $4,000. She said about $1,400 was spent on candy.
“We’ve given so much candy away historically that we’ve had to provide discreet ways for parents to give candy back,” Paull said. “So we have redeposit zones for them to dump half of it on their way out.”
Berardi said the event is a great chance for parents to meet new people while their children play.
“It’s probably assumed that because we’re a church we don’t support the underlying spiritual origination of Halloween,” Berardi said. “Rather than ignore the holiday, I think it’s more important for us to be able use it to develop relationships and friendships.”
Travis Bean can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 275
