Providence Church Reformation Day Faire

Reformation Day is finally here, and the Lord pushed the rain through a day early so we could have a beautiful day for all our outside activities. The purpose of the day-and-a-half event is to remember the providence of God in the work of the reformers, but many of our activities were simply inspired by our idea of 16th century life. Since the focus this year was John Knox's activities in Scotland, the event had a decidedly Scottish flavor.

The sign outside the church building sets the tone for the day. Fortunately there is no date on it so we can use it again next year!

The Bradshaw family came all the way from Tennessee to be subjected to staring into the sun to satisfy a pesky photographer. The monogrammed tartan looks fantastic on all of them, and the guys wore the kilts and plaids well.

The always-adorable Sanford girls busy imitating stained glass.

Karen and Lily keeping the troops busy at Bag End. The participants hand-sewed their own drawstring pouches in which to store their valuables. Except for the bit of tartan on the small cape Karen has on her shoulders, our family returned to our German costumes from last year. It was funny how many people recognized us as the "poster family." Hmmm, I never thought we'd be a poster family for anything...

Over at the battlefield, the crowd assembles to see the Scots advance on the Brits, while a mysterious piper wanders the field with his instrument of war.

The Scots assemble complete with spiked shields and broadswords.

The warriors charge with gusto!

The English are engaged and proceed to hold off the Scots with their spears and arrows.

The second wave of Scots is sent in. Is that a cowboy hat I see?


Whoa, this field is long... are we there yet?

The onlookers: always hungry for bloodshed via duct tape covered plastic...

Meanwhile, the piper abandons the troops to play requests from the crowd for tips. Hey, isn't your kilt too short?

I don't know if little John Creath was the cutest kid in a kilt that day, but he was definitely in the running.

Back at the Town Square, Scott Price sketches all that subject themselves to the torture of posing. Actually, the 16th century went high tech this year as Scott's son David would capture the subject with his camera and print an image that Scott would draw from. That way the torture only lasted 1/90th of a second.

On to the Highland Games and the caber toss. Here David Price shows less-than-remarkable form. Evidently he's never seen a caber thrown.

Even though this one is blurry, I include it because I think Joshua Peiffer should get the award for best form. He truly looks like a professional, even if his throw didn't look very professional. I'm guessing he's seen a caber tossed before.

Keith Bradshaw giving it his best shot. At least he looks Scottish.

Back inside for a Nathan Clark George mini concert before the chapel lecture. Nathan commented that this was the first time he's ever performed in tights and a kilt. Go figure.

Not the only one exhausted after the day's activities, but one of the lucky few who had a soft place to lay his head.

Little David was in the running for the "cutest kid in a kilt" contest, but he was disqualified when he resorted to head-butting. Like always, he was a trooper until he fell asleep.

Scottish Country Dancing for those that still had energy at the end of the day.

Even all those swirling gowns can't hide the fact that Daniel Ryken has reverted to his military "take-charge" mode as he barks orders in the background.

Anna using Sierra as a guinea pig to demonstrate a "Swedish swing." Wait, isn't this supposed to be Scotland?

Mr. and Mrs. George do the "gypsy."

Tiffany demonstrating her dancing prowess with a partner that was also very talented (and wearing a nice tartan too).