All decked out in its best Halloween splendour, the miniature train was kept busy carrying trick or treaters around the South Stormont Community Hall. Tinkess Photo

LONG SAULT – The Ingleside-Long Sault-Lost Villages Lions Club were at it again last weekend, this time hosting the 2026 Great Pumpkin hunt at the South Stormont Community Hall on Mille Roche Road in Long Sault.

The event ran from 1:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. and there was a steady stream of parents and children looking for that special pumpkin while also enjoying a hot dog, chips, juice and candy for a very reasonable price of $5.00 per child.

In addition to having chance to try out this year’s choice in costumes and have a snack, there were also games, crafts, and even a miniature train ride, courtesy of JMS Train Rides. Ray Savard, the owner of JMS Train Rides, and a member of the Lions Club explained how the train came to be. “A lot of the places we go, we do it for absolutely free,” said Savard.  I enjoy driving the train, with my grandson, he’s autistic and I built it for him during the COVID era. What we did was… I was terrific, I was retiring and I didn’t know what to do with myself. My wife was about to kill me because I was at the house all the time. So, I told my wife, I was going to do something for Jordan. So, what happened was I built this train, and I started running it around, and some of the kids’ saw it and then things just started to escalate from there.”

Savard recruited Fallon Patterson to work with him to help her get her community service hours for high school, and then she just stayed around afterwards to help out. She is planning on becoming a Lion as well.”

The path the train follows obviously differs from location to location, but in Long Sault it was able to drive right around the community hall, through the rear parking lot and back around to the front of the building. The pumpkins which had been placed around the fountain, and the inflatable Halloween creatures just added to the fun.

The crowd wasn’t huge at any one time, but there was a steady stream of people throughout the afternoon, taking advantage of a bit of fun created by a group of people whose goal is always to make their community a better place, and have some fun while doing so. On Oct. 31, All Hallow’s Eve, the creatures who found their way to Mille Roche Road before heading out for an evening of trick or treat, were the recipients of their good work.