By Navar Watson
In 1977, a tradition began. 37 years later, the tradition has stayed strong.
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church held its annual Strawberry Festival on the square June 14, sharing shortcakes, live music and activities for the community of Noblesville.
“It kind of reminds us what we’re about,” said the Rev. Lee Schaefer, pastor of St. Michael’s. “Our focus is God … and our response to God’s love is loving our neighbors.”
Strawberry Festival Committee Chairwoman Nancy Allen said the festival is a time for people of all three services at St. Michael’s to meet and work together. This is her third year helping out.
“It’s just a lot of fun,” Allen said. “You see the names in the directories or you hear about them. It’s nice to be able to put names to faces. It takes something big like this to bring everybody together.”
Members of the church baked the bread for the shortcakes themselves, Allen said. The church aimed to sell 2,500 shortcakes in all.
By early afternoon, $2,000 of the money raised had already been sent to the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, Schaefer said. The money will help build a well that will provide a direct source of fresh water for a mountaintop school. Other money supports the youth program and other church activities.
Schaefer said they refined the shortcake recipe this year, and it “turned out beautifully.”
Bob and Betty Ostrom attended the Strawberry Festival for the first time this year, after having moved to Noblesville in January.
“This is excellent,” Bob said about the shortcakes. “We just moved up from Florida. I was down there for 29 years, and they had strawberry festivals … This is good, if not better, right here.”
The Ostroms said they plan on returning next year.
Alongside the festival, Nickel Plate Arts held a pop-up sale for the second year in a row.
Scheduling the sale the same day as the Strawberry Festival was an accident last year, Executive Director Aili McGill said. This year, however, St. Michael’s and Nickel Plate Arts coordinated their events together. They featured free Father’s Day crafts for children, pastels for sidewalk drawings and eight art vendors selling their work.
“Working with the folks at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church is wonderful,” McGill said. “They have this wonderful event, and we just like celebrating and making it a little bigger.”
Across the street, The Wild Bookstore held its grand opening with new owner Peggy Clark. They gave away hot dogs, chips and water for free. Eckrich donated the hot dogs. Clark obtained the store in March, some two weeks after she responded to the “for sale” sign in the window. She changed the stores hours to 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. According to Clark, the weather made the day a success.
“It’s a beautiful day,” Noblesville resident Jeff Potter said as he ate shortcakes with his two daughters. “Somebody feeds you strawberries. You’re out, walking around downtown. It’s all good.”
