50th Fall Celebrations
We have two recordings available from the 50th celebration that took place in Everett, WA. To listen, simply click on the link. To download the audio and listen later, right click and click “save link as.”
Reflections shared by guests during dinner
Stories are the warp and woof of Holden’s 50-year history.
Out-of-village events inaugurating the anniversary celebration included worship, hearty Holden dinners, reunions, videos and programs, browsing in the “bookstore,” popcorn and ping pong.
But most of all there were the stories. Some people worked with teaching staff writer Eunice Scarfe to polish their stories. Others simply stood up at dinner and reminisced with humor, poignancy and gratitude.
The fall gatherings, one in St. Paul on Oct. 15 and the other in Everett, Wash., Nov. 12, were designed to “get the year rolling” as Holden plans a continuing round of anniversary commemorations, said co-director Steph Carpenter.
“They were exactly what I’d hoped, with people talking and enjoying being with one another,” said Melissa Johnson, event coordinator and one of about 20 staff members who left the Village to host the events along with Holden board members.
In Everett, after a salmon dinner prepared by the Holden crew, folks lined up at the microphone to tell their favorite anecdotes.
There was the failed experiment to use carrier pigeons for communication between the Village and dock. There was the trout pond – an experiment that summarily ended with a breakfast one morning of 400 fried trout.
There were the inevitable Swedish/Norwegian jokes: “The Swede/Norwegian told the Norwegian/Swede: If ya can tell me how many chickens are in this bag, I’ll give both of ‘em to ya.”
There were people who met their life partners at Holden, and there were weddings – including one with a chipmunk nibbling at the sacramental bread.
People remembered significant experiences: Missing the boat and miraculously finding an alternative ride up the lake; inadvertently locking a bear inside one of the buses overnight; two women hiking, only to come across two male hikers wearing hats, boots and nothing else; and, the baptism of a Forest Service worker who left her post at Lucerne to visit the Village because she continually saw people going up the hill grumpy and returning happy.
Most of all there were stories about bread. One time mop soap was accidentally used instead of oil in the bread dough. Another time bread was baked for a baptismal eucharist in the shape of a baby. And – in the Holden tradition of practical joking – a eucharist loaf was baked with a stick inside, making it impossible for the officiant to break the bread at what is usually a solemn moment.
Such a trick might be viewed by some as irreverent or disrespectful, observed Pastor Nancy Winder, presider and preacher at the closing communion service in Everett. She was the object of that particular practical joke.
Yet, Winder continued, the gathering around the table at Holden, whether the dinner table or communion table, is a gathering of joy.
“Come with laughter or with sorrow … if you come at all, the gift is the same,” she said: “‘I am the bread of life.’”
It’s clear the stories will continue long after the 50-year celebrations are memories. The Village is welcoming a third generation now – and with the mine remediation project, a different kind of visitor – construction workers.
“We are all one Village, living together,” said Steph Carpenter. “It feels good. It’s working.”