GOOD HOPE — Good Hope students got a chance to end the summer on a high note Thursday night during the city’s annual Back 2 School Bash. 

Free hot dogs, chips and drinks were provided to everyone who attended, and students were able to play on inflatable bounce houses and slip-n-slides and participate in a color run.

The Cullman County System also lent out a school bus for the party, and children were able to have back to school pictures made with the bus and a few other props that were set up.

Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett said the event was planned by Greg Brown, the City Council’s community service liaison, and all of the city’s other council members pitched in Thursday to make sure the several hundred people in attendance had a good time.

The Back 2 School Bash has always been a popular event for the city for the last several years that it has been hosted, and Thursday’s was no exception, he said.  

“It’s been good,” Bartlett said. “If we have good weather, they always come out.”

The city’s recently-opened food pantry also got a boost from the Back 2 School Bash. Any person who brought a can of food was entered into the running for door prizes that were contributed by local businesses.

Bartlett made sure to thank all of the businesses who supported the Back 2 School Bash and continue to support the city’s other community events.

Those sponsors make events like this possible, and they are the ones who make sure everything is free for the attendees, he said. 

“It costs our community nothing,” Bartlett said.