More than 30 families with young children attended St John’s Union Parish’s annual Superhero Party last week.

The event was organised by Jared and Jess Suisted, who are employed by St John’s Union Parish as community workers, as a positive and safe alternative to Halloween.

“Our role is to build new bridges between our church family and our community, providing opportunities for people to find belonging and to build community around them,” Mrs Suisted said.

“The Superhero Party is a great opportunity to celebrate what is positive. We all know that there is enough darkness in our community already, so as a church family we’ve decided to celebrate light, life and love instead.”

The families enjoyed a bouncy castle slide, face painting and several activities in the church’s backyard involving chocolate and lollies.

Local artist Jodi Collins did a Superhero Painting for photos that will be used for future parties.

Mrs Suisted said a visit from the fire brigade was a highlight.

“There was a real buzz when our local real-life superheroes turned up. All the families went out onto the front lawn to see the fire truck and meet members of our local fire brigade. It was a great opportunity to acknowledge them as some of the real-life superheroes in our community.

“The kids really enjoyed going down the bouncy slide with real firefighters in all their kit.”

Other highlights included the bubble machine provided by Lowes Hire and Engineering and the real-fruit ice-creams provided by Caltex on St John Sreet.

A new activity this year was the Panna Soccer Cage, built by Mr Suisted with funding from the Eastern Bay Community Foundation, Mitre 10 Ōpōtiki, Lowes Hire and Engineering and St John’s Union Parish.

It is signwritten with “You Have Value”, “We Succeed Together”, and “Others Matter”, which are the core values of E Tū Tāngata Aotearoa, an initiative that seeks to tackle Tall Poppy Syndrome in New Zealand.

Children and parents enjoyed one-on-one or two-on-two soccer inside the cage, which involved trying to either get the ball through the opponent’s legs for an instant win or trying to score the most goals in three minutes.

The Panna Soccer Cage will be used by the parish as a tool for youth engagement in Ōpōtiki over the summer.