GOOD HOPE — Good Hope’s annual Back to School Bash looked a little different this year, but that didn’t stop residents from showing up in droves for a drive-thru meal and gifts from the city.

Good Hope hosts the event every year as a sendoff for the city’s students before they return to school, and it usually features an evening of games, bounce houses and water slides. 

Because of COVID-19, this year’s Back to School Bash was limited to a drive-thru only event. 

“We just did it so nobody had to worry about anything,” Good Hope Mayor Jerry Bartlett. “We just kept them in the car.”

All of the city’s community events are funded by local sponsors , and the city had already raised money to buy the t-shirts and food, so the council decided to host the drive-thru bash to feed Good Hope residents and give away the shirts, Bartlett said. 

Along with the food and shirts came an additional gift that hasn’t been necessary in the past — free face masks that were customized with Good Hope school logos. 

While this year’s bash was different from years past, Good Hope residents still showed their appreciation to the city for giving away a few hundred meals and 250 masks and t-shirts, Bartlett said. 

“I didn’t hear anything negative,” he said. 

Bartlett said the Back to School Bash, like all of the city’s community events, would not be possible without the help from the many sponsors and volunteers who donate their time or money to give back to the people of the city. 

“It’s just a team effort, and they worked hard,” he said. 

Workers included council members and their spouses, city employees and other volunteers from the community and local schools, and Bartlett made sure to single out the city’s assistant clerk Lori Leusby for spearheading the event’s organization and making sure everything moved smoothly. 

“Lori’s just a really good organizer,” he said. “It was a lot of work her, but she does an excellent job.”