By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
The annual Strawberry Festival, held at the Twin Peaks Community Church located on historic Strawberry Flats on June 1, attracted over 300 grandparents, mothers and dads with their kids and neighbors. They were attracted by the petting zoo located behind the Masonic Lodge building, next to the church, with farm animals, such as pigs, chickens, bunnies, ducklings, goats, a pony, turtle, sheep, an alpaca and more.
The animals were gentle, and the cameras were snapping precious pictures of the cute interactions with the kids. “That goat jumped up on me and I liked it,” said Julie, aged 5. Georgie, 6, added, “The bunny was soft.” Those that were watching the turtle noticed it kept following the ducklings and kept giving them “love bites.”
The petting zoo was a very popular attraction.
Also at the rear of the Lodge were pony rides, with some kids riding bareback and others riding on saddles. The horses were walked around the parking lot by the handler; the kids got to hold on the manes and felt happy and were smiling greatly, with more clicking of cameras. Fred, 8, excitedly kept saying, “I never had so much fun before” and “I never rode a horse before.” A giggling 3-year-old kept saying, “Horsey, horsey.”
Inside the Lodge’s dining room, the church volunteers were serving free hotdogs, nachos and huge strawberry shortcake servings. It was said by those serving them that the strawberry shortcakes are the favorite of Pastor Mike and that it’s why the festival is called the Strawberry Festival. It was an opportunity for the church to show its appreciation for the church members and community members who support them and who came to the festival.
“It was Twin Peaks’ block party of the year,” said Senior Pastor Mike Whisner, who had celebrated his 70th birthday the previous week. He has been at the Twin Peaks Community Church for the past 20 years.
There were tables inside and out with seating for dining and conversations. Neighbors were meeting each other, and children were seeing friends from school and introducing their parents to each other. In the lobby were children having fun playing “volleyball” and “catch” with large balloons, while also laughing. There was fun occurring everywhere.
Inside the church building, there were two free balloon twisters making flowers, animals and swords for all who wanted balloons and there were four free face painters, so the lines were short. Most children had pictures of strawberries, vines, flowers and other décor decorating their faces as they walked around both sides of the street at the festival.
On the back patio of the church was the “candy carnival” where everyone competing received candy and most of the games used lots of water. The “balloon bash” in the middle of the patio used short tennis-style rackets to smash water ballons pitched to them, with everyone getting splashed – a great idea for a warm afternoon. Around the perimeter were carnival-style games, including Nerf gun shooting contests, fishing games, a candy walk (aka cake walk) with live accordion music, cornhole games and an opportunity to hammer nails into a log, which was quite popular and, of course, drawing with chalk on the sidewalk. There was something for children of all ages.
The pony rides were lots of fun for the children.
The local home school and private Christian school had tables sharing their information for those interested parents, explaining their programs and services, as did the Twin Peak’s Community Church at their table with happy welcoming members.
At 6 p.m. the church’s sanctuary was filled for the family entertainment show performed by Pastor Mike, showing off his balloon twisting persona, making the “world’s largest balloon animal” using over 17 ballons. He was followed by 22-year-old local resident Zac Swan, showing off his incredible magic. Swan began performing at the Magic Castle as one of the youngest-ever magicians on its stage in Hollywood; he now entertains around the country. He also did his incredible Houdini escape trick which, even after seeing it occur in front of your eyes, was still unbelievable.
Pastor Mike was very pleased with his members who made the whole Twin Peaks Strawberry Festival block party come off seamlessly. “We do hope some of our neighbors and other mountain residents will return and see what our church is all about sometime this summer,” he added. “We will welcome you. This event was wonderful and all we hoped it would be. Thank you, everyone.”
The Strawberry Festival reflected the friendliness and feeling of community, what so many love about living in these mountains.
For more information on the Twin Peaks Community Church and its programs, visit www.TwinPeaksChurch.com.
0 Comments