Thousands of people, 750 horse-drawn wagon rides, a 15-building cowboy town, colossal dance floor, live music and comedy, a dozen massive air toys, 200+ volunteers, 1000’s of Root Beer floats and hotdogs, and everything absolutely FREE?! It might sound too good to be true, but it’s not, and it happened June 18 in Centennial Park. Many would say it was Fort St. John’s party of the year.
We get asked every year why we do it. What follows was written on the reverse side of an information card that we handed out during the event:
Many people ask us why we would put on an event like this. Well, we love throwing first-class parties - 2-steppin’, BBQ’n, and all! But more than that, we have a dream for our city that includes SELFLESS love, overflowing JOY, deep CONTENTMENT, relentless KINDNESS, VIBRANT homes, and abundant LIFE!! And Party in the Park is a small way of living out that dream!
I believe each one of us is the recipient of sheer undeserved grace! I woke up this morning to brilliant sunshine, I breathed in the crisp morning air (for free), my heart is working (seemingly without my telling it too), somebody dropped off a Timmy’s coffee for me (random kindness), I was born into a prosperous country (didn’t plan that) and make my living off oil in the ground (didn’t put it there). Sheer grace, outrageous generosity everywhere!
At Evangel, we feel that our response to this undeserved grace should be, at the very least, to “go and do likewise”. Freely we have received, so freely we give. And it won’t be the last time either! Our hope and prayer is that this spirit of selfless love and extravagant generosity catches on and becomes something much more everyday in our beautiful city.
This quote was shared in our church one Sunday and I think it sums up our primary motivating factor for Party in the Park.
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
