Buxton, Reynolds plan community fall festival

By AnnA AUSTIN
Buxton will hold a fall festival Saturday, October 27 at 4:30 p.m. at Ny Stavanger Lutheran Church in Buxton. It’s hoped the event will become an annual affair.
Recently, various members of the community have been working together to plan different events for Reynolds/Buxton area residents.
Several weeks ago, a community social was held in the parking lot of Ny Stavanger church. Bars and cookie were served, all made by volunteers, as well as donated drinks, buns, Mexican sausages and egg salads. Much of the food was donated by Reynolds and Buxton’s only grocery store, Weber Meats.
They also had an air jumper for children to play in.
Approximately 70 people were present at the event, many more than expected.
Said one organizer, Melissa Allen, “The social went so well, we decided that we need to keep putting events like this on for the community.”
“We are aiming at engaging all the different church denominations, the school, families, and both towns,” she added.
The festival, titled “Valiant Fallyball Festival,” will have a theme of all who attend to wear their best and most creative Valiant attire.
“This will take place around the same time as regional tournaments so we thought it would be a good way to help fire up the players,” said Allen.
Students in grades 7-12 who arrive in their Valiant costumes will model their outfits to live music.
The younger students not participating in the contest will serve as judges, cheering for the costume that they like best under the categories of most creative, most spirited and funkiest.
The students receiving the loudest cheers will win a prize.
There will also be a team pumpkin painting contest. The finished pumpkins will be placed in various places in the two towns, including Reynolds’ haunted house, which is located at the old City Hall building on Main Street.
The former city hall is currently owned by Kevin and Linda Olson.
Cenex in Buxton and Weber Meats in Reynolds will also be displaying some of the pumpkins.
Each one of them will have a container next to it, which each voter puts any change or dollars in, representing their vote. The pumpkin with the most money will win and that team will be awarded a prize.
All proceeds from the pumpkin contest will be used to sponsor the event — and others to come in the future.
“We are hoping to make events such as this one almost a monthly thing,” said Allen. “Next month will probably be Thanksgiving themed, December will be Christmas, and so on. We would like to come up with ideas that support all different interests and skills, such as car-in-progress shows for teenagers who are working on some type of vehicle, animal shows, and more.”
“We would also like to include some sort of meal every month so the people of our towns can sit and visit and get to know each other if they don’t already.”
Following the Fall Festival, there will be a ham dinner served.
“We are still looking for donations of pumpkins and helpers,” added Allen.
“Everyone is welcome, and we hope it will turn out even better than the one before.”
For questions or donations, email melissaa@wiktel.com or shannon.lovdahl@gmail.com.