NEWELL—Colorful autumn leaves, homemade pies, crisp fall air and hot apple cider—all the things that make this time of the year special—were celebrated at the Fall Harvest Party at Newell City Hall on October 29.
Families, friends and neighbors were all invited to attend the special celebration. Sponsored by WIT Coalition, Newell Christian Fellowship and Dakota Life Christian Church, the event was Christian-based, although everyone was invited to attend.
The community came together to create a special, fun event for the kids. There were booths and games with an abundance of candy and prizes to be won. Everyone who came to the party could stop at the welcome table and pick up a treat bag to hold all the prizes and goodies collected throughout the evening.
The event was planned to begin right after school. The celebration was meant to have kids come right over to City Hall without having to ride the bus home first. “We had a lot of parents that said their kids normally catch the bus, but this way they would just come into town and meet the kids and the kids can just walk over from school instead of riding the bus home and then coming back in later for the event. And some of parents that couldn’t get off work—their grandparents brought the kids,” explained Sabrina Harmon, director of WIT Coalition.
The City Hall was bustling with activity as kids meandered through the room, stopping at different booths to play a game on a giant tic-tac-toe board with friends, fish for prizes, throw some bags in cornhole, guess how many pieces of candy corn or pennies were in a jar or take time to enter the cupcake walk. All of the games gave prizes for playing.
Other booths were set up to hand out books, candy, coloring books with crayons and other knickknacks. A popular activity was putting names on leaves and hanging them on a large paper tree at the Fall for Jesus Tree. The Hitch’n Post Market created an autumnal photo backdrop for anyone wanting to capture memories from the day.
The planned timing of the event and the activities offered were a perfect fit for the community. “We’ve had an awesome turnout! We’ve been going nonstop since before 4 p.m. Because, as soon as school got over, there were kids here,” shared Harmon. “I would say there’s easily 150 to 160 people here—it’s a nice turnout. Everyone is sitting and visiting and having fellowship.”
The event was held during supper time, and so, of course there was food to enjoy. Hot dogs were donated by Dawn Olson, and chips were donated by Kathy Lamphere. There was also apple cider, water, coffee and tea.
There was a dessert table full of autumn desserts. It was set up and run by Newell Community Club, Lindsay Ranch and Ranch Rodeo Committee. About halfway through the evening, they had already served 125 pie plates.
Everyone that came to the event got the chance to win door prizes throughout the evening. Anita organized the winners of the door prizes and made sure the winners received their prizes.
It takes the whole community to put on such an amazing event for all of the locals to enjoy. Participating businesses and organizations at the Fall Harvest Party included Butte-Meade Water District, Hitch’n Post Market, High Plains Restaurant, First National Bank, Newell Lions Club, Fred and Judy Wilson, Newell Christian Fellowship, City of Newell, Dakota Life Christian Church, Butte County Sheriff’s Office, WIT Coalition, Newell Community Club, Lindsay Ranch, Ranch Rodeo Committee, Butte County Ambulance and Tot-N-Twenty Extension.
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