Lutherfest 500 -- What a day it was!

Lutherfest 500 was almost a week ago--Saturday, October 28.  It was a great day.  So, first, some acknowledgements.  Then, at the bottom, some photos.

First of all, a big THANK YOU to all who gave of their time, efforts, and resources to plan, prepare, and perform at our Lutherfest 500 celebration.  There were practically no glitches to speak of, and there were LOTS of compliments about the event.  

Thank you to all who had made phone calls and obtained information for us, particularly in the early months of planning.  Even though some of the planning ideas had to be scrapped, it was essential for us to know what we could or could not do.  We do not consider the phone calls for pricing a waste of time even though some of our plans did not work out (the tent, for example).  Thank you to all who helped in this process.

Thank you to Kari for being our web-mistress and continuing in her service even after their family moved to Georgia.  We wish you could have been here for the event.

Thank you to all who contributed to the decorations around the school.  People enjoyed the festive atmosphere.  Thank you to Gary's Catering of Wixom for their great food.  Thank you to Die Dorfmusikanten for providing the music.  I wish I could have spent more time in the gym enjoying it.

Thank you to the characters and tour guides on the Reformation Walk.  This was vastly more popular than we ever thought it would be.  Even though we had scheduled only four times for the tour, the characters did their presentations about TEN times total.  Thank you for your extra efforts.

Thanks also to Becky and her team of seamstresses for making the characters much more authentic.

Thanks to Carol and her team of artists for the murals.  They were eye-popping and added a great deal to the decorations.

Thank you to Huron Valley Lutheran High School for agreeing to host this event and for giving us pretty much unlimited access to the building, amenities, and supplies.

Thank you to all who helped to promote this event.  We are estimating about 400 people made their way through HVL at some point throughout the day.

Thank you to all people who offered their time to work on the set-up, the Table of Duties for the various stations throughout the school on the festival day, and for helping convert the gymnasium from a festival ground to a worship place.

There are almost certainly some people we have overlooked or failed to mention by name who are also worthy of thanks.  Please forgive us if we have failed to mention you.  Your efforts are certainly appreciated.

Once again, there were LOTS of compliments about our Lutherfest 500 celebration.  This event could not have happened without all of the people who contributed, so those compliments are ultimately yours.

Finally, I hope that this event encouraged people to appreciate the Lutheran heritage that we have received and that people might be eager to learn more, to grow in their faith and understanding, and to be eager to evangelize with the Gospel we cherish.

Here are some photos from Lutherfest 500.

From the Kinder Platz.  We had anticipated a castle bouncy house to match the Reformation theme.
Once we found out that this is what we got, we quickly dubbed it the "Hello, Kitty my Rib" bouncy house.
("Kitty, my Rib" was a nickname Martin Luther had for his wife, Katie.)

Great food.  Great band.

Reformation Walk tour guides.

Reformation Walk stop #1 -- Hans & Margaretha Luther, parents of Martin Luther.

Reformation Walk stop #2 -- John Tetzel, seller of indulgences.

Reformation Walk stop #3 -- Martin Luther.

Reformation Walk stop #4 -- Elector Frederick the Wise, prince of Saxony.

Reformation Walk stop #5 -- Leonard Kopp, fish merchant who smuggled
Katharina von Bora and other nuns out of their abbey and delivered them to Luther.

Reformation Walk stop #6 -- Martin & Katie Luther in the Luther home in Wittenberg.

Reformation Walk stop #7 -- Frau Ursula Cotta, who took Martin Luther
into her home in Eisenach and encouraged his interest in music.

Reformation Walk stop #8 -- (Hans Lufft), printer, who also explained the significance of the Luther Rose.