Local church is giving kids a sense of normalcy for Halloween

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - “I like to carve pumpkins at church with my family the most," Grace Lutheran Church ELCA member, Isabell Clausen said.

Isabell Clausen was one of many children at the Pumpkin Carving Fellowship and Devotional Event hosted by Grace Lutheran Church ELCA.

Pumpkin designs included a cat, snowmen and Clausen’s creation.

“Mr. Jerry likes to scare people," Clausen said.

The church wanted to have a creative and interactive activity that could replace Sunday school for the children since it’s been cancelled due to the pandemic.

The event also created a sense of normalcy for the kids.

Everyone at the activity was adhering to health and safety guidelines by wearing masks, social distancing and sanitizing their stations.

Members of the church say they felt safe bringing their children to the Halloween function.

“I think Grace has done a good job at kind of finding that happy medium between being safe and still allowing activities to happen," Grace Lutheran Church ELCA member, Ryan Yunkers said.

Despite not being able to see facial expressions, director of spiritual growth at Grace, Ben Ger could tell they were enjoying themselves.

“Well, I haven’t seen the smile on their faces with the mask on, but I can tell that they are having fun. Just the way that they are playing, the pumpkin seeds and pumpkin guts. They are having a great time.”

Carving pumpkins can be done virtually anywhere, but the members of Grace Lutheran were glad it could be done in a safe way together.

“Church is about community right, because we could do this ourselves in our own homes all of us by ourselves. Especially in this time, a chance to get together as a community is much more fun," Yunkers said.

Isabell Clausen, like many other children at the festivity, is already making plans for next Halloween.

“Next Halloween, we are going to, I am going to probably make a spider one.”

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