The goal was to provide a message of faith and hope for the heartland following last years historic flooding in Cedar Rapids and Eastern Iowa through with music, food, fun, inspiration and community care. Did that happen? It sure did and more!
After months of preparation the week of the festival was upon us. On Saturday, June 6th about 15 of us gathered on at Taylor Elementary School to go door to door with fliers for the Neighbor & Friends BBQ. Wendy B., who coordinated the BBQ, had picked up 3,000 for us to hand out, prepped maps and even had bags of doggie treats for us to hand out. The group from Hus included Wendy, Diane, Karissa, Marissa and myself. Also there was a great group of young adults from Watershed. After splitting up the Linwood and Czech Village neighborhoods we set out to hand out the fliers. About an hour and a half into it our group called it quits because the rain was coming down so hard. We were quite literally soaked to the bone. By the time we made it back to Taylor the rain had let up and we decided to finish the last few blocks around the school, get lunch and go at it again that afternoon. Fortunately after lunch the rain had stopped and we were able to complete our task. Unfortunately the combination of the rain and the sun left a lot of humidity for us.
On Thursday, June 11th I spent the day putting up the concert stage and roof. This was the first time that roof had been used. In addition to the half dozen or so volunteers the company that was contracted to provide them had six of their employees there as well as a factory representative for the company that made the roof. The first thing to go up was the roof which would eventually be about 60 feet up in the air. After assembling all the individual pieces the process of putting the supports in place began. After hoisting the first one the chain for the motorized roof hoist was being threaded when the line got stuck. One of the employees climbed the 60 feet up to fix that. After that the factory representative suggested they put together a mechanism that would use the rest of the motors to put up the supports. That was much easier, not sure why we didn't start off like that. Once the supports were in place the fitted tarp was put in place and then stretched to fit. We then went to work on the 40' x 40' stage. The stage was much more difficult to put together because of the uneven ground and the shear weight of the individual platforms. When we finished at 8:30 PM, just a short 12 1/2 hours later) I could not wait for the concert in just two short days to see how it would look.
The three day Healing the Heartland Festival kicked off on Friday night, June 12th with a big backyard barbeque in 11 locations in and around the Greater Cedar Rapids area. Area congregations with Serve the City were the hosts for the Neighbor & Friends BBQ and provided food, games and a neighborhood atmosphere in parks and on school campuses. Hus Presbyterian had the pleasure of serving as one of the co-hosts for the BBQ at Taylor Elementary School which targeted the Linwood and Czech Village neighborhoods and was headed up by Hus member Wendy Barton. Despite the pouring down rain over 400 neighbors and friends came to Taylor Elementary for the BBQ. In fact the busiest time we had was when it was raining the hardest. People just kept coming, most of who walked to the school. It was neat to see some of the people we had handed fliers to the week before. Principal Brian Christoffersen was amazing and spent a great deal of the night with us. Fortunately we were able to find several areas with overhangs. The first one provided a safe, dry place for the sound board so we could continue playing music through out the entire evening. We covered the speakers with small tarps that were light enough let the music be heard and to keep out the rain. We directed people to the rest of the overhangs so they could stay somewhat dry while they ate. We had the opportunity to meet a lot of people. Some were survivors; some were people who had helped and continue to help and one young couple who had just moved to Cedar Rapids and are now living in a renovated home that had been flooded. The pain is still there and will be there for a long time. Most are still hopeful for a brighter future. One man wondered out loud why God would allow it to rain when people were trying to do something good for the neighborhoods. My response was that God had a reason. He then said, "Maybe to remind us of the flood last year." To which I responded that might be one reason, another might be so that we could bring glory to God by remaining there and continuing the BBQ and loving on our neighbors regardless. No matter what the reason everyone was grateful that we had the BBQ. A big thanks to the Hus crew, Wendy B., Diane V.W., Karissa L. and Riley W. (Riley’s home was flooded last year).
Saturday was one huge community “backyard” festival that was located Kingston Sports Complex and the CR Ice Arena. We celebrated surviving and healing, thus the name Healing the Heartland Festival. The activities included a Community Barbeque, Family Fun Zone, Sports Zone, a comprehensive Community Care/Services Tent and a concert venue with bands and speakers. The Community Care tent offered information and care to community members including job search and resume writing, mobile medical clinic, registration & fingerprinting of children by CRPD and more. As I walked through the mobile dentist chairs were all full with people waiting to get looked at. Others were taking advantage of the free clothing giveaway. Life 101.9 was there. 89.1 The Spirit was there broadcasting live. We are very fortunate to have two Christian radio stations in the area. The Fun Zone was located in and around the lobby of the CR Ice Arena. Activities included face painting, balloon artist, stick-on tattoos, bounce around playground, puppets, kids’ songs and visits from local mascots including Shucks from the Kernels and Ricochet from the Roughriders. The Sport Zone was held in the same arena as the Roughriders play minus the ice. The area featured emcee and international speaker Keith Cook and exhibitions from the “Untitled Skateboards” Team, Basketball Exhibitionist Tanya Crevier, and the Mike Hagen Strength Team. The day concluded with a concert emceed by Christian comedian Dr. Dennis Swanberg, a testimony from Mickey Robinson and music from David Phelps, BarlowGirl and the Newsboys! What a way to end the evening. I was back stage as security and as a stage hand. Diane and Karissa spent the night working the merchandise table for BarlowGirl along side the famous trio's parents. I think the highlight for them was when they got to meet the girls after they finished signing autographs. Twitter provided some immediate feedback from each of the artists. David Phelps tweeted "Had a great concert in Cedar Rapids with BarlowGirl and Newsboys. Great crowd. I think we made some new fans. Hope some of u were there!" Alyssa Barlow tweeted "Wow I lllooovvveee Iowa! I want to take you all with me! Please???" Lauren tweeted "The show tonight was so stinking amazing!!!!!" Do you think they like Iowa? The Newsboys tweeted "This town was under 12 feet of water last year. Heard some amazing stories from a local cab driver. Hope the show is a blessing to the city", "Great show tonight. Despite a few gear problems and the slippery stage, we had a wonderful evening!" I am guessing their drive out of town was not as much fun because the "Bus caught on fire on the way home! Everyone is fine. Bus is fine. Thanks to the "good samaritans" who stopped along the road to help!"
On Sunday the festival concluded with Faith Night at the Kernel's which included a second free exhibition from the Mike Hagen Strength Team in the parking lot and a concert inside provided by the New Covenant Bible Church "Big Band." With the exception of the Saturday food vendors and tickets to the baseball game the entire weekend was free. It was the desire of the of the 39 churches and 9 ministries that make up Serve the City to provide a weekend of free activities to our community as they continue to recover from the 2008 Flood as many cannot afford any fun family activities. The festival is over, but three years of Prayer, Care and Share to the community continues with numerous unprecedented opportunities to show and tell about the love of Jesus Christ. Continue praying for guidance on what you can do.
Living Outrageously for Christ ~ Terry
Our pictures from the Healing the Heartland Festival:
For more on the festival, check out my friend, Pastor Kim Pagel’s blog posts and pictures:
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