LACE program celebrates annual Pumpkin Float

Sussex County Community College’s Learning at College Experience (LACE) program, now in its 18th year, celebrated its ninth annual Pumpkin Float at Horton Pond on Oct. 29.

The LACE program, which currently enrolls 54 students, provides social skills, life skills and continuing education for adults with special needs. Students come from Sussex, Morris and Warren counties, attending both in person and virtually. Some alumni who have moved to Tennessee and Florida still participate.

Before class, students dropped off their carved pumpkins at the pond. The floats used in the event were built about 10 years ago with plywood donated by Home Depot. The Kittatinny Regional High School wood shop class and members of Hampton Cub Scout Pack 96, Den 5, constructed and painted the floats.

The Hopatcong Defiance Engine Company No. 3 runs the event each year in partnership with the LACE staff. The college’s facilities department provides trucks to help transport the pumpkins to the floats on the far side of the pond. Firefighters, along with LACE staff and facilities workers, place each pumpkin on a float with a tealight, then row the tealight-lit “pumpkin train” across the pond — a tradition that has continued every year.

Students were invited to wear costumes and take part in a variety of activities, including team games such as the Cracker Stack Race, Donut Fishing Contest, Candy Corn Race and Toilet Paper Mummy. Individual activities included Halloween worksheets and mazes, crafting 3D paper pumpkins and Q-tip skeletons, and enjoying hot dogs and snacks. The weather was perfect for the celebration.

This year’s event also featured a memorial bench dedication at the pond in honor of Molly Buyer, a LACE student who passed away in February 2023. Buyer’s family and friends attended the ceremony, where SCCC President Dr. Cory Homer and LACE Program Coordinator Patti Nugent welcomed the group and shared remembrances.

“Molly attended the LACE program for many years. It was a fitting tribute to her memory, and Dr. Homer played an important role in making this happen this year,” said Molly’s father, Dr. David Buyer. “Words cannot express the appreciation and gratitude I have for the college, Ms. Nugent, Dr. Homer and the staff of the LACE program.”