Fall Festival and Trunk-or-Treat Equipment Checklist for Churches and Schools

Fall festival season in Cabarrus County runs from late September through the first week of November, and the events that go smoothly are the ones that got their equipment list right in September. By mid-October, the good stuff is spoken for.

This is the checklist we walk church and school committees through.

Start with your traffic pattern

Before you rent anything, decide how families move through the event. Most fall festivals fail in one specific way: everything is clustered in one area and the far half of the parking lot sits empty while a line of 60 people waits at one table.

Design a loop. Entrance, games, food, exit. Space stations at least 15 feet apart. Families should walk past everything without doubling back.

Games: budget one per 40 attendees

That ratio keeps lines under five minutes. For an event expecting 200 people, plan five game stations.

Games that work best at fall festivals are ones a volunteer can run with 30 seconds of instruction:

• Cornhole. Universal, self-explanatory, and works on grass or asphalt.
• Giant Connect Four. Fast rounds, high visual appeal, draws kids from across the lot.
• Giant checkers. Good anchor for a quieter corner.
• Safe axe throwing. The station teenagers actually visit. Needs a clear lane and a designated adult.
• Tumble tower. Crowd-gatherer. Place it where you want people to slow down.

Concessions: the two-machine rule

Most fall festivals over-plan food and under-plan throughput. Two machines running steadily beat four machines with nobody trained on them.

The reliable pairing is a popcorn machine and a cotton candy machine. Popcorn handles volume, cotton candy handles delight. Add a hot dog roller only if you intend the event to cover dinner, which changes your start time and your volunteer count.

Order supplies generously. Portion packs and serving bags are inexpensive, and running out at hour two is the most common complaint we hear.

Tables and seating

Fall festivals need more tables than the organizers expect, because every station is a table:

• One 6-foot table per game station for supplies and prizes
• One per concession machine
• Two at the entrance for check-in and wristbands
• Two to four for seating and eating

For chairs, plan light. Fall festivals are standing events. Twenty to thirty folding chairs covers a 200-person festival, mostly for grandparents and volunteers on break.

The trunk-or-treat variation

If your event is trunk-or-treat, the cars are the stations and you need far less game equipment. What you do need:

• Tables for check-in and for the two or three non-car activities
• One or two concession machines at the end of the trunk line
• Chairs for the volunteers sitting at their trunks for two hours, which is longer than it sounds
• A clear queue at the entrance so the first car is not mobbed

Volunteer math

Two volunteers per game station, one per concession machine plus a floater, two at check-in. For a five-station festival with two machines, that is fifteen people. Recruit twenty. People cancel.

Book by early October

The last two weekends of October are the single busiest stretch of our year. Churches and schools across Concord, Kannapolis, and Harrisburg are all running events on the same two Saturdays. Equipment for those dates is typically committed by the first week of October.

Everything is pickup or drop-off by appointment, which suits church schedules well. Pick up Friday, set up Saturday morning, return Monday. Browse outdoor games and concessions and get your dates on the calendar.