Halloween Storybook Pumpkin event delights children at local Boys & Girls Club — Pumpkins and stories and treats, oh my!

Published 10:04 pm Friday, October 7, 2022

By Lynn Richardson

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There were plenty of smiles and laughter as well as an array of colorful creative pumpkins filling the Learning Center at the Boys and Girls Club of Elizabethton/Carter County for the Club’s Pumpkin Storybook Festival on Thursday.
Children as young as five years old, all the way up to the adult staff members enjoyed the fun of creating, painting and displaying pumpkins that represented their favorite storybooks.
“This is an activity that gets our kids involved in reading and lets them be creative,” said BGCECC CEO Shelly Parham.
“We have guest story readers and we’re giving out books and bookmarks to the children. All of this sends the message that reading is fun.
“Our goal is we want kids to be learning to read up to the third grade,” Parham said. “After that, we want them to be reading to learn.”
Parham encourages anyone who is interested to come to the Club to see all that is happening there for the children of the community.
“We have homework help and tutoring here every day in our learning center, and we also do fun stuff like this all the time.”
Boys and Girls Club Board Member Randy Merritt and his wife, Brenda, as well as Board member Lynn Richardson, served as guest judges for the Club’s Pumpkin Storybook Contest.
Brenda was also a special guest storytime reader. She entertained the youngsters with the book, “A Halloween Scare in Tennessee,” written by Eric James and illustrated by Marina Le Ray.
Pumpkins of all shapes and sizes were on display, representing books like “Curious George,” “Charlotte’s Web,” “Back to the Future,” “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” and more.
The Pumpkin Storybook Contest entries were judged by age groups ranging from age 5 to adult. Prize winners in each category included:
Ages 5-6: First place, Hendrix T, “Star Wars”
Ages 7-8: First place, Annie P, “Owl Diaries”; second place, Shaylee F, “Kitty and the Moonlight Rescue”
Ages 9-10: First place, Tyler W, “Curious George Goes To A Chocolate Factory”; second place, Josh H, “Back to the Future”
Ages 11-12: First place, Baylee H, “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie”; second place, Alexis A, “Coat of Many Colors”; and third place, Amelia T, “Charlotte’s Web”
Teens: First place, Jaden Y, “Cocomelon 1,2,3, School For Me”
Adult (Staff): First place, Mary Boone, “Frozen”; second place, Edith Canter, “Charlotte’s Web”

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