EXETER -- There was an interesting sight over the Wyoming Valley Tuesday afternoon: a big floating rosary.
Wyoming Area Catholic School in Exeter made it out of balloons, said the traditional prayers, and then set the nontraditional rosary free.
The students at Wyoming Area Catholic in Exeter pray the rosary once a month but they certainly don't do it like this. The children did have the typical handheld rosaries but they were overshadowed by a much larger one, all 59 beads of the Catholic prayer tradition made out of balloons.
"The children do come over and they do participate and the class prepares for it but I wanted them to have something special so they would remember this," said Principal Eileen Rishcoff.
The event was rained out the day before, the actual day dedicated to Our Lady of the Holy Rosary but the point is to get the kids interested in this series of prayers.
The principal got the idea online, and wanted it to work just right.
"I have watched it 1,000 times on YouTube. I really have," Rishcoff said. "I'm hoping, we'll see. If we let this go correctly, it will be an image they won't forget the rest of their lives."
When the prayers were done, up the rosary went. The idea worked. The principal told the students this symbolized their prayers literally heading above.
"It's great seeing our prayers going to Heaven, in the rosary," said student Ryan Reedy.
"I didn't know if it would work or not, but it was a cool idea," said student Jocelyn Kosik.
And as the students watched the prayers hang over the valley, they did seem excited about reciting this rosary.
"We usually just pray it. We don't usually do something like this. This is a whole new thing," said student Aiden Barney.
"We usually just sit in the church," said another student. "It was amazing, it was a great experience."
And it's a message that will truly disappear into the heavens, the balloons are biodegradable.