SEBASTIAN — Several hundred people descended on Riverview Park in Sebastian late Saturday afternoon to take advantage of free fun, free food and the chance to make Mayor Jim Hill go splash in the dunk tank.
“It’s great,” said Crystal Helpling, who brought her kids, Leann, 6, and Trent, 4, out to the Community Block Party sponsored by Coastal Community Church. “Nobody hardly does anything like it anymore.”
Helpling heard about the block party last weekend when she pulled into the Sebastian Shark Mart Mobil gas station during the church’s annual gas buy-down event.
“That was awesome,” she said. “Every penny helps.
Leann and Trent both said their favorite part of the block party was the bounce house, though cotton candy was a close second for Leann.
Taking a seat on the board in the dunk tank was Sebastian City Mayor Jim Hill – who said he was pretty sure just about everyone would make him splash in the water below.
“Seth asked me to and I wanted to help,” Hill said, referring to Coastal Community Church Pastor Seth Goldsmith. “It’s all fun.”
Hill said he thought it was great to see a church give back to the community in the way Coastal had with the block party.
“I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “It’s a great community event that grows each year.”
Carly Metz invited her son and daughter-in-law and their kids from Melbourne to the party, interested to see what kind of event a church would be holding in the park.
“They are having the time of their lives,” Metz said of her grandkids, adding she was glad the kids would be going home with their parents because there would be no way they’d be able to sleep Saturday night given the amount of cotton candy they had eaten.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Metz said of a church throwing a party for free and not asking anyone for anything to participate.
It’s one of the most asked questions Pastor Seth Goldsmith fields when the annual block party comes up – how much money does the church raise?
“We raise zero,” he said. “We give away everything.”
Any money not spent on putting together the block party gets set aside for the following year’s event, Goldsmith said.
Like the gas buy-down, Coastal Community Church’s events are meant to express God’s unconditional love, the pastor said.
Unlike the buy-down, though, the church’s members could spend more time with people they might not have been able to reach.
“This is where relationships are built,” Goldsmith said.
Patti Fuchs, Bear Den Leader of Cub Scouts Pack 568, agreed.
“This is the purist form of what a church is,” she said, noting that if it resulted in a few more people filling the seats, then so be it. “There’s no agenda. There’s no guilt.”
“This is just a lot of fun,” Cub Master David Fuchs said, explaining that even though this was his pack’s first time participating in the block party, they felt like they were a part of the group – not outsiders.
“We’re very happy to be here,” he said.
Claudia Aguiluz stood to the side and watched her kids throw darts at balloons to win pieces of candy.
“My kids are having a lot of fun,” she said. The boys were too busy playing to talk.
“It’s good for the community,” Aguiluz said of the block party, explaining that it’s a way for the community to learn about Coastal Community Church.
She added that if not for the block party Saturday, the boys would have probably been cooped up inside on the computer.
“They need to be outside,” she said. “It’s good for us, too, the parents.”
Coastal Community Church would like to thank the following sponsors for supporting the Block Party:
- Aunt Louise’s
- Capt. Hiram’s
- Edible Arrangements
- Hale Groves
- Hidden Oasis Day Spa
- Jungle Club
- Lobster Shanty
- Mr. Manatees
- Mulligan’s
- Orchid Island Bikes & Kayaks
- Paris Family Chiropractic
- Pathfinder Business Strategies
- Sam’s Club
- Sandy’s Grille
- Sebastian Insurance
- Sports Authority
- Stone Creek Pizza
- UPS Store – Sebastian
- Vincent’s
- Wal-mart
- Woody’s BBQ
