This evening I took in the Michiana MCC Relief Sale. I had been to the relief sales in Winnipeg, but I don't think anything compares to the one here in Michiana. It is rumoured to be the largest relief sale. I just read on their website that 1300 chairs are set up for the quilt auction alone! They had an international food court where Mennonite churches from the area served up a variety of ethnic foods but I noticed that something was missing--the Mennonite food! Their traditional Mennonite food booth consisted of what they call "Haystacks" which seems to me to be a layered dish of potatoes, meat, and veggies (sounds like my mom's 7-layer dinner). What I was expecting was the farmer sausage, verenki, and rollkucken like they serve at the Manitoba sales but no such luck. Though this sale was a whole lot larger and I didn't get my fill of verenki the spirit seemed to be the same. When I first arrived on the fairgrounds I didn't really expect to see anyone I knew but whenever you put enough Mennonites in one place there are bound to be connections and you're more than likely going to run into people you know. In this case I came across many people there that I know from AMBS and a few from church. And even with those people there whom I didn't know, there just seemed to be a familiarity that I felt comfortable with.
Michiana Relief Sale: http://www.mennonitesale.org/
A funny story about getting there: I was given directions as to how to get to the fairgrounds but as I was going along I ended up in a long lineup of traffic. There must have been over 100 cars lined up along the street. I learned, after about 30 minutes of waiting, that the main route into the fairgrounds was being blocked by a train that had actually broken down. So I turned around and started following other vehicles since I figured they must know where they were going. The cars ahead of me started turning off here and there until I was the only one on the road and I was heading into the countryside. I pulled off onto a country road so that I could turn around to ask for directions when I saw a sign on the road on which I had pulled off that said relief sale that way. I weaved around the country side and finally made it there completely by fluke.
1 comment:
That is a great story about getting there! I hope Carrie was with you, because it reminds me of a story you told me during your second year at CMU about how you like to take new routes and see if you can find a new way to get places and Carrie just didn't understand. (I do that to Nathan too...sometimes it turns out ok and other times I have to remind him that trying new things is exciting because it is NEW and UNKNOWN) Sounds like you're having tonnes of fun and trying lots of new things!
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