STREETFEST was a roaring success last Saturday. The streets of Shepherdstown were lined with tents, vendors, food trucks, beer trucks, and two stages. Live music all day long—well, until lightning crashed the party. But that wasn’t until the final band. Mother Nature stole the last act.
Cool.
I’m thinking we need a RAINFEST once every seven years so Mother Nature can have her day to show off and then otherwise leave us alone.
I remember when there was no STREETFEST. No DOGFEST, BOOFEST, or OCTOBERFEST. And no CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN THEATER FESTival (CATF). But for the record: Before any of those FESTS there was CHRISTFEST, then PEACEFEST, LOVEFEST, and EARTHFEST, each and everyone at the Presbyterian Church.
We’re not taking credit for STREETFEST, DOGFEST, BOOFEST, OCTOBERFEST, or THEATERFEST. I’m just sayin’ that when town folk heard that Presbyterians were HAVING FUN BEING FESTIVE they said: What the hell: We can have FUN too.
Hence, STREETFEST and OTHER FESTS.
I think we may need a CATFEST, too, just to uphold DEI principles, of which Shepherdstown apparently is the last bastion in this godforsaken land.
ALL ARE WELCOME HERE. Red and yellow, black and white, gays and straights, immigrants and natives, walkers and wheelers, socialists and capitalists, anarchists and atheists, vegans and cannibals, cats and dogs, Democrats and Republicans… OOPS. Sorry, I got carried away there.
Speaking of FESTS, I remember when there was no MAY DAY parade with Morris dancers and an assortment of other merry characters prancing down German Street and twirling around a maypole on McMurran Hall’s lawn.
When MAY DAY was first announced, a cadre of born-again, Bible-believing, Spirit-filled women (a “prayer group”) presented themselves at a meeting of the Shepherdstown Ministerial Association to urge us—as the spiritual leaders of this community!—to denounce and prohibit such pagan debauchery on the streets of our town. And just for good measure, and to optimize their time on our agenda, they insisted that we denounce and prohibit Halloween as well.
We thanked them for their concern but declined the opportunity to MAKE THE SPANISH INQUISITION GREAT AGAIN. That fall, I invited the children of my church to wear their Halloween costumes to church.
(Can’t let the devil have all the fun.)
By the way, that rumble you heard during the first-ever Shepherdstown PRIDE PARADE on Sunday, June 1, was a certain prayer group rolling over in their graves.
https://youtu.be/iVyNnKsmdok?si=kzpx-7CIuGMzke_E One of the songs that got me through years of condemnation. Love the image of Presbyterians having fun. It is still too rare to hear any denomination paired with ‘fun.’
Yes! Eat, drink, and be merry… All of us know how to complete that injunction to enjoy life while we have it. Life is fragile and quick. So celebrate, dance to the music. In the end we’re a long time dead. (Am I saying, be grateful?)
Those pesky Morris dancers with their bells and their ribbons! *shakes fist*
I remember when they tried to shut down wall sitting too, until important community members publicly spoke up for us raggedy children *cough..Hali Taylor (and others).
Shepherdstown likes freedom, festivals and the quirky ones. The weirdos. There’s a humming spirit here drawing us in.
A town founded by a rag tag handful of immigrants situated off a branch of a great indigenous highway might be that way though.
Someone remarked, “Live each day as if it is a festival. Turn your life into a celebration!” Not a bad idea and a street fest is a symbol of that human need for fun, fellowship and connection!
I haven’t laughed this hard in awhile, Randy. LOVE every word of this (especially the “prayer group” request & your response…). Being a pagan – which originally meant country dweller – & Morris Dancer ( we still “bring in the May” at dawn on May 1 here ) – and born on Halloween ( the most FUN birth day ever!! ) I adore these celebrations in our kind little town.
While others work to bring back the great inquisition, I’m with you…& you…& you…
Just love your comment today! Thank you!!
Wonderful piece dear friend. Excellent. I love that we practice community here. Nurture community. Strengthen community. Enjoy community. Love our community. We are grateful for the leader you were and the leader you still are. I love living, acting, being, breathing, loving in this community and society.
I love how we celebrate everything together. Fests, parades, resistance, one another, compassion and justice for all.
They will never take away our Halloween.
Thank you Randy for these reminders of our progression in festivals. Do you remember the year at the Presbyterian Church when you invited our local Morris musicians and dance teams (I was one of them) to dance down the center aisle of church in our full kits (costumes to the uninitiated) and back out via the side aisles to return to German Street before the Mayday parade and more dance, music and weaving the maypole ribbons on McMurran Hall lawn? The Pagan roots of Christianity were, at last, honored and unveiled.
Thank you Terry for reminding me that Sheppardstown has a lot more going for it than outsiders thought. Reston was the model community for the nation when it was built but we must recognize Sheppardstown as a current festive, moral, inclusive and spiritual model community!
When I walked into SPC for the first time in 1998, I so enjoyed the music and singing and swaying to the sounds. I love to dance and mentioned that to someone seated next to me. The reply I got from that individual was “Presbyterian’s don’t dance!” It’s a good think I was moved by your sermon that day because it came real close to my high tailing it out of there!
You brought me a chuckle, yet again. Thank you …
Was great to see you at Olivia Lloyd’s show!
Not to be confused with Festivus, I reckon ;-P
You are the Prince of Tongue in Cheekery with a laugh at the end squeaking sideways like out of a balloon. Thanks for all that fun! Just sorry that I missed all of those events. I want a thirty year redo in Shepherdstown.