MONTE VISTA — The Calvary Baptist Church held a Halloween-themed Back to School Bash on Saturday, Sept. 25. There were lots of activities and free hot dogs and popcorn for all who attended.

The inside of the church was set up with various booths that included games for children of all ages, including basketball, Tic Tac Toe, and areas where parents could take their kids to trick-or-treat at different tables. 

There were children painting and children receiving pressed-on Halloween-themed tattoos at various tables inside the church.

Monte Vista Resident Julie Romero attended the bash with her daughter.

“It's really nice to see a lot of the people from the community bringing their kids out to have fun in this positive environment,” Roero said

Outside of the church, there was a snow cone stand where many children were seen licking and enjoying multicolored snow cones. 

There was also a pumpkin game being played outside, where children could be seen trying to hit a target on the pumpkin, along with a bouncy house in the corner for the kids.

Organizer Cynthia Hart was pleased with the turnout.

“We just wanted to reach out to the community and do some fun things, it's been a long couple of years with the pandemic, so we decided we needed to open things up and just do some fun things for the kids,” Hart said. “We decided we wanted to do a Back-to-School Bash and our church brought in a bunch of school supplies with it. We will be donating these school supplies to our local schools.”  

Toddler Lissy Getz was excited to be attending the bash. She walked in with a trick-or-treat bag, giggled, and said, “I am happy to be here.”  

Calvary Baptist Church is located at 2160 Sherman Ave. in Monte Vista.