2004 Flower Festival at Nativity
February 20, 21, 22

The theme for this year's festival is to be Hymns of Praise and Pslams of Meditation, which offers us tremendous scope for a venerable host of floral arrangements.

We are fortunate to have the same group of ladies available to lead and encourage us to take up the challenge to join in and share the privilege of decorating God's house.

Sign-up sheets will be in place for volunteers to share in the preparations, everything from flower arrangements, welcoming hosts and hostessese, refreshment team and more! Taking part in any way will be a shared blessing and will help to make the festival a great success.

Guidance will be available from our experts to assist anyone who wishes to take part in creating their own floral interpretation of a particular hymn or psalm.

Traditional English Tea will be served on Friday afternoon and all day Saturday in the Fellowship Hall at $8.00 per person. There will be a craft stall int he Hall consisting of hand-made goods for sale to help in offsetting some of the festival costs. There is still time to join in and make things for this stall!

Please spread the news of this special event to all your relations, friends, and neighbors so that we can reap a Godly and bountiful harvest. And please join with the Fextival committee in praying for a successful result in this special outreach into our community.

Holy Eucharist, followed by Flower Festival until 3:00 pm.

2003 Flower Festival

At Nativity, in addition to our year-round family members, we are also blessed with regular winter visitors who enrich our fellowship and worship. Many of our "snow birds" are from the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. We are so thrilled that these ladies and gentlemen have organized (with the help of an army of volunteers) a special event with a very English flavor to mark the first anniversary of Nativity’s new sanctuary. In the following article, Chris Williams explains a bit about the history of flower festivals and invites you to participate in the Nativity Festival.

Nativity Flower Festival
A Celebration of life!

What’s a Flower Festival? That’s a question we’ve been asked quite often since announcing the Nativity festival.

History: A Traditional English Flower Festival

In Derbyshire, England in 1350, the year after the Black Death, the village of Tissington survived because their wells were not contaminated. In gratitude they made flower garlands and tossed them into the wells. Years later, in 1615, after a severe drought dried up the wells in the surrounding communities, the people of Tissington again survived because of their wells. To praise and thank God, they decorated the wells with flowers. Ever since, there is a festival called "Well Dressing" where people dress the wells with flowers on Ascension Day. Well dressing is celebrated in other villages, too, mainly in June and August.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, flower festivals became popular in churches throughout England. The most celebrated festival was Easter, giving thanks to God for the sacrifice of his son Jesus Christ.

Another popular time for flower festivals was the first Sunday in October — a Harvest festival thanking God for the safely gathered corn and for the beauty and bounty of the world he made for us.
Today, many English churches hold a flower festival some time between spring and harvest. Each year a different theme is used, such as wedding anniversaries, seasons, hymns, just to name a few.

Nativity's Festival

Here at Church of the Nativity, we decided our first flower festival would have the theme: a Celebration of the First Year in the New Sanctuary. To showcase the theme, arrangements will show in flowers the many festivals in a church year — Lent, Easter, Ascension, Christmas — and the many events in the life of a church — baptisms, holy eucharist, weddings. Arrangements will also feature church groups, Bible Study, ECW, Sunday School, choir and music, outreach, and more!

When you come to the Flower Festival you will see the church decorated by at least 16 major arrangements. But there’s room for more! We invite anyone who would like to participate even with a small arrangement to contact us and we’ll make room for you.

More than just Flowers

The church opens its doors for the first viewing of the flowers on Friday, February 21 at 1:00 pm. Refreshments are served starting at 4:00 pm. There is no charge for viewing the flowers throughout the Festival (though we never turn down any offer of contributions).

Join us for a special Evensong on Friday at 7:00 pm followed by a reception afterward in the Fellowship Hall. If you've never experienced a traditional Evensong service you are in for a treat. Special music and chants are part of the service, which you will enjoy while worshipping surrounded by the magnificent floral displays.

What would an English Flower Festival be without an English tea? All day Saturday (10:30 to 4:00 pm) we’ll have traditional English teas with scones, sandwiches, cakes, and strawberries and cream ($5.00 per person for the tea, no charge to view the flowers).

Also, we’ll have live performances of songs and music throughout the day Saturday (no charge).

The Festival continues Sunday through 3:00 pm. So please bring your friends, bring yourself, and enjoy as we dress our church in the beauty of God’s own nature.