Victorian Day

Riverton, the town immediately next to where I live, holds an annual "Victorian Day" to celebrate it's history (it's an old summer resort town, believe it or not). When this special day was announced last year, our Church decided to get involved and set up a table - it was a good idea and lead to the creation of some good materials for the congregation to hand out. People also felt compelled to do something to show people that Jesus loved them without immediately getting them to "sign on the dotted line." To that end, both last year and this year we handed out bottles of water to anyone who wanted one, even if they already had a water bottle in their hands. Folks really appreciated it (especially women who happened to be pregnant and already finished the water they had brought with them). It was a good way to say, "Hey, we actually try to care." Today we gave away 8 cases of water, one bottle at a time, for free while most other booths were selling it for $2 a bottle!

I did feel bad for the people who were set up in costume, though. Victorian clothing was not what you call "breathable," and it was hot out there (not to mention humid). There were some cool contraptions going up the road, though, like this guy who had one of those cool bicycles that I'd only ever seen in the closing credits of "Speed Racer" (I commented on that to him, it got me a blank stare). Below is a picture of the table we set up this year. Here's what we did on it...

From Victorian Day
For Free:
  • Water
  • Pencils with "flags" advertising our Co-op Nursery School
  • 100 Year Anniversary Books
  • Invite Cards
  • Church Brochures
  • CrossPoint Post-Cards
  • Youth and Children's Ministries Brochures
For a Suggested $2 Donation:
  • Church Cook-Books
  • The Three devotional studies I wrote for Central: Biblical Evangelism, Stop And Smell The Coffee, and Making Space

Comments

JimG said…
When we did something similar at the 4th of July celebration last year, folks got angry that we were giving things away for free. They said it wasn't fair to the vendors....
wezlo said…
Yah, "not fair." It's fair to mark up a scoop of ice cream by 33% for the day though....

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