BURNT HILLS — Harmony Frates, 6, spent Saturday afternoon in a harness climbing a large rock wall in the parking lot of the Burnt Hills Baptist Church.

Typically, only a handful of children are seen around the church, but Saturday about 15 children and teenagers were climbing the rock wall, playing in the inflatable pen and holding balloon animals during the church’s first Family Fun Day.

The event was to celebrate the congregation’s 225th anniversary, but was also held as a way to attract more young families to the parish.

After 225 years, the small church next to the cemetery is often forgotten by area residents.

“The building has been here forever, but even local residents don’t know where we are,” Frances Lottey said. “We have to tell people that we’re between Fo’Castle Farms and the hardware store, or next to the cemetery.”

At 86, Lottey has been attending Burnt Hills Baptist Church since 1951. She is not the oldest member, but she has been around the longest.

Lottey said since she began attending the church has changed both aesthetically and in terms of membership.

“In the early days the church was quite full. GE was hiring a lot of people, but of course that has affected a lot of people, and, there were a lot of kids,” she said.

The congregation’s current roughly 40 families are all older. Lottey said there are only three children who are considered regular members of the parish.

Today, the lack of young families has affected the church and its members are trying to attract more children.

“We want to be able to spread our message and reach more people,” event organizer Sue Donahue said.

George Herrick serves as the church’s interim pastor. Herrick said he suggested a family day or carnival of some sort for the church’s 225th anniversary. The members had never held a festival before. He said community events were effective in creating awareness about the church.

Terri Horan and her two children, Amanda, 7 and Bradley 4, of Ballston Lake, were decorating soda cozies during the event. Horan said she read about the festival and thought it would be a good time for the children, but she already attends service at The Church of the Immaculate Conception in Glenville.

“Some of these people we will probably never see again,” Lottey said.

But if they do, Herrick said, it could be a step toward bringing new members to the church.

The Burnt Hills Baptist Church is located at 193 Kingsley Road and holds a Sunday worship service at 10 a.m.