Saturday Evening, January 26 – Gracepoint Church Ephrata

We always look forward to this program and meal at a nearby church.

We like to arrive early to visit the vendors, see the prizes, and hear the afternoon seminar.

Visiting vendors

I stopped to admire the beautiful archery bows designed by this couple and enjoyed talking to them for quite awhile. He told me about his bows and some of the unusual wood he uses, but spent more time telling me about his spiritual journey which was quite interesting.

He does the woodworking, she does the strings.

There were also several beautiful displays from taxidermists.

Welcome to the afternoon seminar

Randy Flannery, Master Maine Guide, was the guest speaker and introduced us to Wilderness Escape Outfitters, where he and his family host many hunters and people who enjoy the outdoors.

Then it was time for a delicious supper: Pulled Pork, Venison Meatloaf, Potatoes, Baked Beans, Corn, Cole Slaw, Rolls, Butter, Drinks, and Dessert.

I enjoy that this evening purposefully includes the children. In this photo they are checking out the children’s prizes. The older children have tickets and are part of the door prizes, but the youngest have another table where they can just go choose something when their age is called. They usually have a gift for every child – most donated by local hunting and outdoor businesses.

The young children who killed their first deer last fall are honored with a certificate.

Following these awards there was the drawing of door prizes. They give out a lot of things, but neither Cerwin’s or my number was called this year.

Randy continued his seminar by telling us about his technique of tracking and stalking whitetail deer.

He told us how he and his sons track deer and proved it by these closeup pictures.

The grand prize was a 6-day hunt at Wilderness Escape Outfitters, Danforth, Maine. I was hoping Cerwin wouldn’t win, because it sounds like a lot of walking for an “old man.” Tracking often involves 4-5 miles of walking in a day. The man whose number was called was across the aisle from us and turned it down because he just had two knee replacements. A younger man eventually accepted the prize.

Thank you, Gracepoint, for a great evening!