Family came from far and wide to experience all that Inverell's Family Fun Day had to offer, and the wholly-free event certainly lived up to it's name.
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It was the first event of its kind for the Combined Churches of Inverell, and the overwhelming response was bigger and better than they'd hoped for - with 500 people rocking up.
Children ran rampant with their faces painted in a variety of different colours and designs, with balloons on strings filling the air to create something of a festival-like atmosphere next to the jumping castle.
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People flocked from neighbouring towns and villages like Tingha, Moree, Bingara and beyond, many coming to spend time together with family, something they'd been hard-pressed to do recently.
The Stewart clan was one of them, with Norman Stewart espousing all things "great" about the day.
"It has been an absolutely fantastic day," Mr Stewart said.
"The food is great, the entertainment is great, and the whole day has just been excellent for the kids - they've loved every second."
Organised and hosted by the Combined Churches of Inverell, Danny Everingham said it'd gone better than they'd ever hoped.
"It was really what we'd hoped for," he said.
"We thought we'd see about 250 to 300 - so to have 500 people, plus all the volunteers, it was excellent."
At the regular meeting of church leaders, Mr Everingham said they'd talked and prayed for a way they could better support and serve families, especially coming out of lockdown.
"We thought this was a good way to connect, with lockdown making it hard with isolation and disconnection," Mr Everingham explained.
"Plus we wanted the whole day to be a demonstration that everything that God does for us is for free."
The all-expenses-paid-for day was funded by the churches themselves - or more importantly, the people in them.
"Churches are nothing without the people that are in them," Mr Everingham noted.
With plenty of resources on hand, including information on the Alpha course, marriage counselling, support services, the Scripture Union, FoodBank, chaplains in schools plus more, he said it was all to let residents know that the churches of Inverell "want to support them" in proactive ways.
People also had the chance to sit back and listen as people shared their stories of how God had changed their lives.
"A big thank you to all the many volunteers from the many different churches of Inverell."
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