By Lucky Kidd
MOUNDRIDGE, Kan. — The 150th anniversary of the arrival of Swiss Volhynian Mennonites in Kansas is being marked with a number of events this weekend in the Moundridge area. Most of the events will take place at Eden Mennonite Church, four miles west and two miles north of Moundridge, with other events taking place at the historic Hopefield Church west of Moundridge and at the Moundridge Historical Museum.
The opening event of the weekend is Friday evening at 7 at Eden Church, featuring a keynote address from Dr. Wynn Goering, current chair of the Bethel College Board of Directors and is a former academic dean at the college, who will talk about the history of the immigration to Kansas, and a presentation from Dr. Austin McCabe Juhnke and Dr. William Eash on “Singing 150 Years of Schweitzer Mennonite Heritage” which Kathy Goering from Schweitzer and Friends said will likely include singing.
Saturday’s events begin at 8 at the church with Schweitzer’s Talking, a readers theatre led by Dr. John McCabe Juhnke of Newton who has put together a group of people who will share stories of their heritage.
Starting at 9 there will be a number of seminars into midafternoon. Topics to be covered include the Anabaptist beginnings and the local history related to it, travels to ancestral lands of the Swiss Volhynians, the land they came to, tracing Mennonite genetic heritage, Schweitzer influence on the world, the Lone Tree Story, and a look to the future by three students from Bethel College.
At the Hopefield Church it will be open for visitation and coffee from 9-2, and from 11-1 they will have tours of Mennonite properties at Hopefield, with a van available for transportation.
Saturday afternoon starting at 3 activities will move to just west of the Moundridge Museum Complex where a field of Turkey Red wheat was planted last fall using vintage and horse drawn equipment. That wheat which was swathed and bundled June 1st will be threshed using a McCormick-Deering threshing machine, after which it will be milled using a 1874 grist mill. The flour produced from that milling will be available for purchase.
Throughout the day there will be a display of vintage farm equipment next to the complex.
Saturday evening’s events include an ethnic supper at 5 at Eden Church. For reservation information on that go to www.swissmennonite.org. At 7 they will present Menno Night Live: Schweitzer and Friends Edition. This evening of music will include a cappella singing from Six Swiss Sisters, Pipe organ music from Christopher Shea, bluegrass and folk music from Flannelbacks, and a mix of musical genres from the trip September River.
The weekend will conclude Sunday with a church service at Eden at 9:30, featuring Dr. Nathan Stucky and a mass choir.
Complete details on weekend events including speaker information can be found at www.swissmennonite.org.
