The Not-So Scary Grayberry Spectacular, a free community-wide Halloween event, held Oct. 22 in downtown Gray, gave residents in the community an alternative to trick-ortreating and becoming a hub for togetherness.
Hannah Foval, coordinator of the event and children’s minister for First Baptist Church, said she was excited about the event. She said First Baptist Church in Gray, Gray United Methodist Church, Main Street Gray, and the Jones County Chamber of Commerce put on the event. She said she could not have put the event together without all of them working together on it.
“We were out there having fun at the Not-So-Scary Grayberry Spectacular. We ended up having 90 trunks, 10 food trucks, 5 bounce houses, and gave out 20,000 pieces of candy,” she said. “This was about having fun with the whole community in a safe environment. I’m so thankful for all of those people who supported the event.”
Foval said they just wanted a place for the community to come together for some Halloween fun. She said it was a time for fellowship, coming together, and seeing local churches and businesses being a part of the Jones County community.
“People absolutely enjoyed themselves. We had a line before the event even started. It was just a lot of fun for everyone. We had 4,300 people attend the Not-So-Scary Grayberry Spectacular, so I think people in Jones County were ready for something like this. We ended the night with dozens of confetti cannons down the street,” Foval said.
The coordinator said the businesses downtown were getting lots of face time with the community. She said that it was good for them to be able to see new people and pass out candy.
“My favorite thing about the event was seeing all of the costumes. Seeing everything being set up for the evening was really fun,” she said. “It was also fun to see a lot of hard work finally come into play. I’m thankful for everyone who was a part of this, and for the Gray Police Department for closing the roads for this event.”
She said people should have come out to get some candy, see friends and get together with others in the community. It was a free event, so there was no reason not to attend and have some fun.
The children’s minister said she can’t wait until next year’s Not-So-Scary Grayberry Spectacular event. She said they are already thinking of new ideas to make the event even bigger and better. She said she hopes to see everyone out next year enjoying the event just as much.
“We couldn’t have done this without the local churches, local businesses, local organizations, and local law enforcement. To know all of these different groups and organizations can gather together to support Gray as a whole is a true blessing,” Foval said. “Grayberry is just a special place. I’m thankful to get to call it home.”
