Light and noise rose from the field beside Level Grove Baptist Church on a cold October evening. Gray clouds hung low over Cornelia, the kind that press down on a town and make the colors burn brighter. String lights stretched across the grass. The smell of fried dough, salt, and popcorn carried past the parked fire trucks and cruisers. The Level Grove Baptist Church Yard Party took place on Sunday, October 26, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the wide, open field beside the church at 157 Old Level Grove Road in Cornelia, Georgia.
Children in costumes ran through the crowd. A girl dressed as a Holstein calf clutched a bag of popcorn and stared at the ride as it turned with alacrity.
Beyond, a line formed for the pirate ship; and further still, a new trampoline harness sent children high into the fog. Smaller ones sifted corn kernels through their fingers in sensory bins in the toddler section, where church volunteers watched from folding chairs as the children bounced, bowled, and aimed rings at pumpkins.
Rain fell in a thin sheet, then stopped. It made the lights sharper and the ground soft underfoot. The hayride circled the edge of the property and entered the cemetery, where the old stones stood higgledy-piggledy in the historic section and the newer graves lay in neat rows beside the church. The tractor lights swept across the oldest stones, and the riders fell quiet for a moment before laughter rose again.
Vera Thigpen, dressed in a clever costume, stood with her friends in the games and activities section of the field.“It’s been a lot of fun,” she said, smiling at the crowd that kept growing even after dark.
Caitlyn Rodriguez echoed this statement, pointing to the food tables where volunteers handed out paper baskets of nachos and fried Oreos. “It’s been great,” she exclaimed!
“My favorite ride is the spinny cup!” said Jonah Tilley, his cheeks pink from the cold, his pockets heavy with candy, which he pressed into the hands of a passing toddler.
No one sold tickets or asked for payment. The church donated everything, rides, food, prizes, without cost. They raffled a Blackstone griddle, a Solo Stove, and two Yeti coolers, but most people came for the same reason they always do: to see their children shine under the lights, to stand together in the chill, to feel the season turning.
By eight, the field had turned to mud. The lights reflected in the puddles. Parents carried sleepy children to their cars. For a few hours, the churchyard had been something larger than itself, a small town gathered in faith and fellowship, bound by the simple grace of a shared night.
