By Tim Badgley
From left, Steve Ward, of Newcastle, assists Arizona Crooker, of Jefferson, and her mom, Denni Peaslee, of Newcastle, prepare for their dress-up portrait taken by Chris Holme, of Newcastle, at the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Lawn Party in Newcastle Aug. 2. (Tim Badgley photo) |
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Anna Shaw, of Newcastle, sells plants to Eleanore Carver, of Newcastle, at the St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Lawn Party Aug. 2. (Tim Badgley photo) |
A scaled-down version of the annual St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Lawn Party and the parish’s Maine Art Show were combined in one event held this past Saturday, Aug. 2
in Newcastle.
In the past the 62-year-old lawn party has been traditionally held the first Saturday following July 4. The Maine Art Show, now in its fifteenth year, has
been held in September. Both events raise funds that “go into St. Andrew’s Outreach Fund, which has supported 16 different local charitable organizations,” lawn party
coordinator Steve Ward of Newcastle said.
The Rev. Lu-Anne Conner, rector of St. Andrew’s, said the parish had come to a crossroads this year with regard to the annual Lawn Party. The event had
become too big to manage and parishioners were finding it difficult to maintain from year to year.
“We finally gave ourselves permission this year to scale down, to focus on those areas where there was genuine energy and enthusiasm,” Conner said. “Best
of all we allowed ourselves to simply have fun together.”
Agreeing with Conner, Ward said the lawn party volunteers chose to make the event smaller. “We decided to make it more fun.”
One new feature of the lawn party was the dress-up photo booth. A large, ornate picture frame was hung from the front edge of the booth tent. Participants
were provided a wide range of costumes, uniforms, silly eyeglasses, fake noses and other accessories from which to choose for their portrait. Once decked out in the
finery of their choice, photographer Chris Holme shot their photo as they stood behind the empty frame.
“One of my favorite memories of today was the guy from South Carolina grinning broadly for his portrait after donning a Red Sox hat and jersey,” Ward said.
“I enjoyed seeing the mother and daughter decked out in feather boas and fancy eyeglasses too.”
Gone this year from the lawn party was the extensive book sale which many volunteers found extremely labor-intensive with a relatively poor result in
sales. Also absent from the event was the live auction.
Ward said that the quality and availability of live auction items has steadily declined during recent years, which led to the decision to eliminate the
feature from the event.
Many of the regular features of the lawn party remained intact: the plant sale, baked goods, jewelry and accessories, and lunch served inside the Café
Andre tent.
New to the lawn party was the “Domestic Divas” tent where prepared food, entrées and cut flowers were available for sale.
Another new feature was the free-for-the-taking table, managed by Marie Martin of Newcastle, who said most of the items were taken, generating a lot of
goodwill.
Martin was one of several free-floating volunteers helping inside the various tents and booths as needed and was able to see how most of the lawn party was
operating throughout the day.
“It was just great seeing fellow parishioners smiling and having a good time,” Martin said. “We enjoyed putting on a fair that was manageable for us this
year.”
Conner said the lawn party was not generating as much money for the parish’s outreach efforts to support local organizations. This led to the lawn party
being combined with the parish’s other fundraiser for outreach funding.
“I think God may be teaching us that there are so many different ways to reach out and make a difference in people’s lives, in addition to writing a
check,” Conner said. “We’re beginning to see new possibilities for outreach beyond the parish walls.”
Hannah Ineson, coordinator of the art show, said she was surprised at how positively people responded to the parish house itself as a place to display and
sell artwork. Visitors lingered in the two-story house, sitting in comfortable chairs and having relaxed conversations with each other.
Ineson said that the artwork sales were approximately the same as last year. Newly featured in this year’s show were note cards and postcards which sold
very well.
Ineson echoed Conner’s comment that the event is not just about the parish being able to write checks to support other local groups.
“I feel one of the great benefits was the way we did it this year and the community spirit of it. It went beyond the church into the neighborhood and to
the people who brought guests, to our visitors and to our tourists. ” Ineson said. “It was a real community event.”
