The community has stepped forward once again to make Halloween special at Bethany Cochrane.

Now in its second year, a total of 110 jack-o-lanterns were contributed for their pumpkin walk. Bethany held a special Friday night event, where residents of both supportive living and long-term care residents viewed the pumpkins and voted for their favourite.

"We put them all on display and turned the lights down," she explains. "We played Halloween music and had them all glowing," says Jackie Shier, Bethany Cochrane's volunteer services coordinator,

"We're very appreciative of the community for the donations. It just made for such a fun event for the residents that evening."

She believes the contributors also had plenty of fun preparing their entries. They had students participating from several schools, including Glenbow School. Fireside School, Seniors for Kids from Mitford School, and Bow Valley High. Garmin participated and there were numerous dropped off by community members.

"We had everything from little preschoolers right up to adults doing them, which is awesome."

The winning jack-o-lantern was carved by Nisa Jones and her two daughters Ainsley, 10, and Macy, 8. A cat was featured on its face with the word 'Boo' inscribed.

Nisa says when she heard about the event she immediately thought of her dad, who recently lived in a care facility. She said it was something he would have appreciated. She also has an aunt living in Bethany Cochrane.

"I was thinking about trying to brighten someone's day by participating in this, and teaching my daughters about caring for others and thinking about others as well."

She says the girls were very excited to participate.

"They helped me pick a design, then we worked on that design, and we drew it out a couple of times. We put a lot of thought into it, trying to find something we thought the residents would appreciate."

Ainsley and Macy were thrilled to hear the residents enjoyed their creation. They say the best part was working on the design and wanted to make sure it included a cat, of which their family has two.

The pumpkins didn't go to waste after the event.

Shier says they were passed along to be used for chicken feed.