Dove Creek Church has something to celebrate

Heather Young/Atascadero News • A group of boys struggles with indecision at Dove Creek Church last Saturday: which bounce-house or water-slide to go on next?

ATASCADERO — For the fifth consecutive year, Dove Creek Church gave Atascadero children a place to celebrate just being children.

Pastor Wes Thompson said the church had wading pools, face painting, a balloon twister, Italian ice, hot dogs and nine inflatable bounce-houses and water slides.

“There was this one that was really cool, it was a shark and you went through the shark’s teeth,” Thompson said.

The whole point, he said, is to provide kids a fun, safe place to go and be kids.

“We know it’s a tough economic time, and this is a way for us to help fill a need,” he said. “Not every family can go to Disneyland. So this is a small way that we can try to make a difference in people’s lives.”

And some measurable differences were, indeed made. Thompson estimated that 450 to 500 people came through the carnival, all of them smiling.

But Nancy Arbogast, a church employee who helped oversee parts of the carnival, told stories about how the carnival helped people.

Arbogast said she overheard a woman telling her children that they could go play once they’d finished their hot dogs, the only meat the family would see that week.

Another fellow, she said, came asking if he could simply have a meal even though he didn’t have any children to play. He was, of course, welcomed in and fed.

And on a sillier side, Arbogast said she heard a girl, maybe 7 years old, say “I had so much fun I can’t stop talking about it.”

And Arbogast wasn’t just a spectator.

“I went down the slide,” she said. It was so much fun. It was so hot out, gosh.”

Atascadero resident and non-church member Michele Coombs participated for a third year with her daughter, Katie, who just started first grade.

“It’s really nice, it’s a community outreach thing,” Coombs said.” They have free hot dogs and hamburgers and cotton candy and slushies. You just stand around while the kids play. They have bounce houses and everything.”

Thompson said the man most in charge of the carnival was church member Gary Walker. He also said that plans are forming for next year’s carnival.

“We’re going to couple it with [Hot El Camino Cruise Nite],” he said. “We do this because Jesus has made a difference in our lives, so we’re trying to make a difference for other people’s lives.”