Wowsers, guys, this whole Summer of Promulgation thing has been amazing. I previously mentioned our Pride booth at the Twin Cities Pride Festival, and that was a two-day marathon of joyful promulgation that left me wiped out for a week. This was our second outreach effort, the first being a hospitality suite at Paganicon, a local pagan conference that’s been going on for years. We wrapped up our outreach efforts with a booth at Pagan Pride, a one-day festival held at a huge beautiful park here in Minneapolis.
Sorors Kirstine and Harper, Caleb, Yoshi, and myself. Not pictured, because he was taking the picture, is Frater Robin.
We gathered early, got set up, and had a lot of great conversations with the people who came. We were across the path from a pagan group that has adopted many of the tenets of the Book of the Law, and they had a banner proudly proclaiming “There is no part of us that are not of the Gods.” It was pretty awesome.
We talked to a couple hundred people, it seems. Lodge folk came and helped a lot. Brother Scott Stenwick, who likes to pretend he’s a socially awkward introvert came, and was an absolutely amazing professional spokesperson. I’ve always thought I was a better public speaker than he is, but in real life, not so much. His game was fire, and he didn’t stop all day.
My kiddos joined us, Caleb and Yoshi, 14 and 15 respectively, and they supported the lodge with outreach and service to those doing the outreach. Soror Harper was her usual convivial, energized self, and spoke strongly and confidently about the core ideas of Thelema, the efforts of the local body under her leadership, and the plans we have for the future. Soror Kirstine coordinated the event in her role as Public Relations Officer, got us the booth space, and organized the team outreach efforts. One of our local Bishops, Ixel Balamke, and Frater Robin also were present to share the good news of Do what thou wilt and to bring much-needed support and comfort to the team.
We got a thinner banner, and a new tent. I might have broken the tent a little setting it up, but it’s not irreparable. It has detachable windowed walls. It was cool.
Throughout the event, what stuck with me the most was how amiable all the people are. The pagan community here has been active and interacting for decades, and more than a couple members of our local body knew many of the people at the event. It was good to be a part of things, to see and to be seen.
We haven’t seen any of the people we talked to show up at the lodge yet, but it hasn’t been long. Based on our experiences with Twin Cities Pride, we’ll start seeing a return on our investment over the next few months. The pagan community was welcoming and happy to see Leaping Laughter participating in their celebration of life in all the forms it takes.
Super good times.
