A small but enthusiastic contingent of Young Friends helped make the Bucks Quarter Peace Fair, on September 17, a great success. The Peace Fair brings dozens of nonprofits doing work aligned with Quaker values to a wider audience, along with craft vendors, live music, a book sale, kids’ games and a range of food offerings. Starting the day bright and early, before the opening of the Fair, the Young Friends helped set up vendor booths, unloading the vendors’ materials and putting up tents to keep things moving swiftly.
Their help on Saturday was greatly appreciated, with many members of the Peace Fair committee and Buckingham Friends approaching Friendly Presences and facilitators, expressing how helpful the Young Friends had been, and how deeply grateful they were for our team.
With the help of Tim Cunningham, the Young Friends got trained on how to run the games in the Kids Peace Games area and were assigned to stations. They spent the day staffing the bowling lane, the bean bag toss, the dunk tank, and other various games! Our small but enthusiastic team went all out helping in the games area, explaining the games to kids and making sure every child got a prize after playing, keeping them engaged and excited to play.
But it wasn’t all hard work. After the first shift at Peace Games, Young Friends broke for lunch, explored the Fair, and went down to Peddler’s Village together, before regathering to do the second shift of the game booths.
As the Fair came to a close, under the direction of Peter Ray, our Young Friends helped break down and pack away the materials from the Fair, collecting the folding tables from all over the grounds, packing up the Peace Games into cars, the tents, the stage, and the Peace Fair Grill, until everything was stored away in the meetinghouse or in cars. After clean up was done, Young Friends still had energy for a few dynamic rounds of gaga, and enjoyed a pizza party and a celebration of the first Young Friends gathering of the school year (plus the birthday of Young Friends Program Facilitator Clare Chalkley).
Look for announcements about the Young Friends Winter Gathering, coming up in December. Young Friends at the Fair were excited to hear about the gathering in the works, especially with the option of it being an overnight retreat– and we are too! Keep an eye out on the Young Friends events page on the PYM website for information on a gathering around the winter holidays!
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Thanks to the authors of this story, Clare Chalkley, Young Friends Program Facilitator, and Robert Rosenthal (Central Philadelphia Meeting), Friendly Presence, for their planning and care of this annual program in relationship with Bucks Quarter planners!
