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Prairie's Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration is for EVERYONE!
(September 16 and 17, 2017)
You don't have to be a history buff or a long-time member to attend and ENJOY one or both of Prairie's 50th Anniversary celebrations. They are scheduled for Saturday night, September 16, and Sunday, September 17.
September 16
The highlight of the wine and cheese get-together on Saturday will be the opening of the "time capsule" from 1985. Don't you wonder what Prairie people wrote back then in those 56 different sealed letters? Some 32 were written to Prairie people in general, and another 24 were written to specific individuals. This mostly informal event will also be a chance to peruse the history items on display. Each will be accompanied at least by small card of information or possibly the entire article slated for the history book. Non-alcoholic beverages will be available.
The Wine and Cheese evening starts at 7:00 pm. Although it's not required, if you want to bring a bottle of wine or other beverage to share or a plate of cheese, those items will be welcome.
September 17
Sunday will be the big day - the 10:00 am service, a potluck, more time to view history displays both in the meeting house and at the Annex (including video footage from LONG ago), and actual guided tours of the buildings and grounds.
At the Sunday service, we will be honoring everyone who attends, starting with those in R.E., who are the hope of the church, and then continuing decade by decade with some history highlights from each ten years. A different spokesperson from each decade will give us a 4-minute talk about that time period. We'll also see who joined in each decade - since we will ask those who joined in each particular decade to stand at various times in the service. Long-time member or newbie, every one of us is important. Don't worry if you can't remember when you joined. Special nametags just for the anniversary events will "tell you" (and everyone else) which decade you signed the membership book.
For the noon meal, bring a potluck item if you can. While the potluck is being set up, again there will be time to look at the history displays in the meeting room and lobby. Then, after eating, peruse history displays you didn't have a chance to take in, join a guided tour of the meeting house, the grounds, or the Annex. Guides will be stationed on each floor of the buildings. The Annex will have additional history displays. Even if you've been here "forever," we are guessing you will learn something new if you take a tour.
The Book
Finally, the book. While the History Committee is sad to say that we won't have printed copies available just yet, we can guarantee that Prairie UU Society: Fifty Years in the Life of a Congregation, 1967-2017 will get done, AND we will schedule still another celebration when we have the book in hand. Meanwhile, return your RSVP with the "want a copy" box checked, or sign on the clipboard that will be at the September 16 and 17 events. For the curious ones, one of the history displays will be our binders that contain the articles and photos that will be in the book. People at our retreat in May were pretty impressed, and we've added more articles since then.
So... are you convinced? Hope to see you in mid-September at our Fiftieth Anniversary celebration.
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