Come Out for Fall Fest
Zion Lutheran Church at Augsburg, Arkansas, will hold its 12th Annual Fall Fest on Saturday, October 12. The festival begins at 10:00 A.M. and lasts the whole day. Zion Lutheran Church is located at the intersection of Arkansas Highway 333 and Augsburg Road, north of London and northwest of Dover.
The first festival was held in the fall of 2008. Founded in 1883, the congregation was looking for ways to reach out to the community as it celebrated its 125th Anniversary. A little intimidated at first by such a large undertaking, the members were surprised at how successful that first festival was. Each year since then it has grown beyond anything that we imagined.
One of the reasons for its phenomenal growth has been the investment that the whole community has made in it, both in time and money. We have a committee that begins meeting each year in March or April to prepare for that year’s festival. About sixty volunteers show up the week of the festival for preparation, set-up, and working wherever they are needed the day of the festival. We even have volunteers each year that come from as far away as Iowa, Oklahoma, California, and Hawaii.
Something fun for everyone
This year’s festival will feature a Bike Ride, free kids’ games, bump and jumps, pony rides, petting zoo, cake walk, silent auction, country store, Daisy BB gun shoot, drawing for a locally grown farm-raised hog (processed and ready to be picked up the day of the festival), drawing for a 40-gun Cannon gun safe, antique farm equipment display, bingo, climbing wall, crafts and educational booths, all day musical entertainment, and delicious German food featuring hand-made bratwursts with sauerkraut or grilled peppers and onions (served on a homemade roll) and homemade desserts. Admission to the festival is free.
Proceeds to Outreach Ministries
All of the proceeds from the festival are equally divided between Zion’s two social outreach ministries—the River Valley Christian Clinic in Dardanelle, which provides free health care (medical, dental and optical) and spiritual guidance to anyone in the River Valley who cannot afford to access traditional medical care, and the Augsburg Food Pantry, which provides food to over 650 people each month. In 2018, the Augsburg Food Pantry helped over 7,000 people, distributing over 100,000 pounds of food. Over 70 volunteers willingly gave their time to assist with the food distribution.
Last year, Augsburg Fall Fest raised $24,378 for these two mission efforts, and we hope to exceed that this year. Come and see what this little congregation atop Augsburg Mountain has done to reach out with Christian love and compassion to its neighbors in need.
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