By EMILY SPARACINO / Staff Writer

CHELSEA – As 4-year-old Charlee Hillin approached a booth labeled “Duck Pond” at the Chelsea Park Elementary School Fall Festival on Oct. 9, her aunt, Kristie Bradberry, encouraged her to choose one of the small rubber ducks floating in a pool of water to win a prize.

Bradberry said bringing Hillin to the festival was an excuse for her to come back since her daughter, who she had brought many times in the past, is grown now.

“I very much enjoy coming to the event even if I don’t have (a child),” Bradberry said.

The fall festival is the school’s annual carnival-style fundraiser featuring amusement rides, inflatables, game booths, vendors and food.

At another booth across campus, members of the Harpersville United Methodist Church Greenhouse Gang were selling mums they planted to raise money for missions.

“I get to be with my friends, and we get to plant,” 8-year-old Rory Cox said when asked what she enjoys about the group. “It’s just cool to be around everybody.”

Cox and her brother, Graham, are among 19 children at the church who grow and sell a variety of plants to fund help fund mission projects, such as sending canned goods to Honduras, assembling boxes for military service members and the group’s trips to a church in north Alabama to assist with a feeding ministry.

“They’re learning the whole time they do it,” said Joyce Adair, Rory’s and Graham’s grandmother.

Graham, 10, said being in the Greenhouse Gang has taught him more about how to care for plants.

“I’ve learned how to plant because before I was not a very good planter,” Graham said.

Ruth Brooks, who helps oversee the group, said the children will likely start growing different types of food (kale, lettuce, cauliflower and more) later this year to sell.

“We have good kids,” Brooks said.

More than 1,000 visitors were expected to attend this year’s fall festival, which was held from 5:30-8:30 p.m.