Shining a light

In Medical Lake for the last six years, Lake City Assembly of God, 400 E. Grace St., offers parents and children an alternative to scary costumes and wandering the dark streets looking for candy.

“This place looks like daylight,” said Pastor Nick Hawkins, who estimates that around 10,000 watts of power will blaze down onto the streets around the church.

The church works with the city to close down the streets around its building on the night of Halloween and lights up the streets with giant towers.

The “Light the Night” celebration includes a hay bale maze, hayrides in a wagon pulled by Belgian draft horses, food, inflatable bounce houses and slides, a cake walk, a pie-eating contest, skits and a free bag of candy for every child that walks through the door.

Hawkins said the celebration was the brainchild of the church’s former youth pastor.

“He wanted to create a place safe for kids,” Hawkins said.

The event, which is free for the community, is funded mostly by the church, but also from partnerships with local businesses who donate many services, candy and prizes to be given away in drawings.

Some of the larger door prizes include new bikes with helmets, skateboards and teddy bears.

The church also relies on volunteer support to help. Hawkins said that 50-60 people will be helping on Halloween, and that doesn’t include the volunteers who help before and after the event with setup and cleanup.

Hawkins said the church started setting up the hay bale maze on Tuesday and set up Friday will begin around 9 a.m. The streets around the church will close around noon.

“It literally takes us to the last minute,” Hawkins said.

The celebration usually sees anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 children come through its doors. Since Halloween is on a Friday this year, Hawkins thinks that number will be higher.

“Last year, 1,200 rolled through here. We were prepared for double,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins added that he knows that families have children of varying ages. He hopes that what they offer on Halloween appeals to kids of all ages.

Volunteers stuff around 800 pounds of candy into bags that are sealed so nothing can get in or out of the bags. He added that he’ll try to hand out any leftover bags of candy for kids that are still around at the end of the night.

Visitors to the church usually park along the streets near the event, at the former Denny’s, at the post office, library and any other available spot on the street and walk. The church’s parking lot is usually full of people and events.

Hawkins said his favorite part of the evening is around halfway through the party when things are in full swing and he can watch everyone having a good time.

“When they get in here, it’s like they’re becoming a community,” he said. “They know it’s safe.”