In 2010, the day of the first annual Huss Future Festival dawned with a downpour, but this year, a warm, orange glow greeted our waking and last-minute preparations on Saturday morning. While Adam put up the art tent, Kate got the coffee on. Artists from Three Rivers to South Africa set up their wares while Deborah and Christina put out the street signs, Emily did some last-minute stitching, Julie got volunteers to their assigned destinations and Kelly sorted more donations for the clothing sale.

The clear morning did not lie: Future Festival 2011 was a great success, thanks in large part to our wonderful committee members and interns who each picked up pieces of the collaborative event. While we're already talking about things we might do differently next year, we're still basking in the glow of an event that brought delighted smiles to about 300 faces.

New this year was a full slate of intergenerational activities that included art and craft projects, a community mural, lawn games and bike tune-ups. Twelve-year-old Alex led the kickball game and Kelly took a break from the clothing sale to become the star pitcher (she's no belly itcher). In the meantime, Alex's dad Doug worked on people's bikes and his mom Julianna coordinated the Triple Ripple Community Garden's sale of baked goods, produce and locally made sausages. It was a family affair for the Saubers!

In addition to the deliciously fresh goodies from the garden group, the Three Rivers Area Faith Community organized a fish fry to benefit the annual Back to School Celebration, a family event that provides 650 backpacks with school supplies to local children. Rounding the parking lot next to the fish fry was our neighbor David and his amazing homemade apple barrel train. We heard from more than one parent that their kiddos loved the train ride so much, they didn't want to leave!

Another new feature this year was the Imagining Space photo booth, which featured a hand-painted cloud backdrop and hand-sewn cloud pillows, along with a number of props. Keeping tabs on the photo booth were our featured artists, as well as the coordinators of the upcoming Culture Make Sale, an online sale of goods and services to benefit the preservation and renovation of Huss School as a creative community space.

Live music floated down the hallway all day from the coffee house room, where an array of amazing, donated baked goods joined fair trade coffee and tea in perfect synergy...in addition to a huge cooler full of fresh basil from Bluebird Farm! Bluegrass, folk, rock, indie--there was quite a variety of music and a ton of talent. Folks who wanted a quieter experience could wander the self-guided tour on the second floor, viewing displays like a sample apartment and service group photos, while contributing their own ideas for Huss School and Three Rivers.

While we didn't do a gigantic rummage sale again this year, we did hold a used clothing sale and we invited the Three Rivers Artists Guild to take over the gym where they sold their own garage sale items and deeply discounted original artwork. Some of the shirts from the clothing sale made their way out onto the side patio to be spray painted with a special handmade Huss Future Festival 2011 design.

As you can tell, some of the themes that grew out of this year's event were participation and creativity. People from across a wide range of ages, colors, backgrounds and abilities came together to play, create, listen, talk and contribute. It feels really good to see that, even though the Huss School property is waiting on a lot of resources in order to be fully developed (heated, even), it's still possible to live into the vision for a space where all are welcome and challenged to use their imaginations in all sorts of ways. Thank you to ALL of the people who made this wonderful event possible, from those who had official roles to those who simply wandered in because they saw a sign on the corner. If this festival represents the school's future, I'm so glad you'll be there with us!

Christina is a theatre student at Calvin College who's been influenced and encouraged by her professor Stephanie Sandberg's ethnographic play projects. You can read more about Christina's story and experiences on the intern blog. We're looking forward to seeing the fruits of her theatrical labor at the end of the summer!

$20,000

The first condition for the seed to sprout was a $20,000 down payment. This was no small sum of money and *culture is not optional, the organization that wanted to buy the old school, had emptied its piggy bank to the very last penny for the $1,000 ESCROW payment when it made the offer. A miracle would be required. And so people all over the world prayed and sent e-mails and made donations large and small until, 40 days later, *culture is not optional (which we'll call *cino for short) had raised $25,000 to buy the school.

Now what, you might ask, would a small non-profit organization like *cino do with a big old school? Well, the folks at *cino had been hard at work for several years already, publishing an online magazine every other week, printing a quarterly journal, hosting conferences and camping events and speaking all over the eastern United States. They had heard the good news that Christianity, the religion they'd grown up in, wasn't just a stifling list of beliefs, but a beautiful way of life with implications for all things: for neighborhoods, for families, for architecture, for food systems, and so, so much more. They wanted to spread this good news and tell stories about how people everywhere were putting their faith into practice creatively in very ordinary, everyday things.

For these folks at *cino, Huss School and the land around it represented a vast, magical, wide-open space where nearly anything could happen! Maybe kids in the neighborhood could make art and grow vegetables as ways of learning responsibility and self-esteem. Maybe adults could learn skills like woodworking and cooking that would give them joy, but also equip them to support their families. Maybe village elders could find a place where their skills and memories could be passed on to younger generations. Maybe college students could come for a semester to live together, study together and serve in the local community through volunteer positions and internships. Maybe everyone who came could get just a little bit more imagination to see the infinite possibilities beyond their current circumstances.

So, after the $25,000 miracle, *cino and its board of directors suddenly owned a big old school. The first several months were spent figuring out logistics like mowing the lawn and replacing broken windows. The folks at *cino did fret about money. They knew they had done the right thing in buying the school; they and so many others were very excited about the possibilities. But time just seemed to stand stock still at 8th and Broadway.

Exciting connections

Then, in January 2010, the whole project started to break wide open. In a sprawling old building with no heat or running water, a college film class saw a rare opportunity. They braved the cold for three days to learn about lighting and production while creating a ten-minute suspense film. Catered dinners by a local budding chef kept them warm and well-fed. In March, when spring had just begun to poke its head out of the ground, another group of five college students decided to spend their spring break in Three Rivers. They began each morning with prayer at The Hermitage Community west of town, where they were staying, and then spent every morning working at Huss School. Oh, they scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed until the old food came off the walls in the gym and they raked and raked and raked until every last leaf on the lawn was in the compost pile. Along the way, they were joined by several other volunteers who helped trim bare branches, cut down dead trees and consolidate all the leftover stuff in the school for a rummage sale.

The spring break group was just the beginning. In May, another group came up from Indianapolis to volunteer--nine adults and nine kids. They stayed overnight at a local church and then, the next morning, mapped trees on the property, weeded the parking lot, painted over some nasty graffiti and, most importantly, caught the frog that was hiding in the mud puddle. They celebrated their accomplishments with food from Uncle Rhemus at the Scidmore Park Petting Zoo before heading back home. And June brought what was probably the biggest surprise so far: three of the college students who came for spring break decided that they wanted to come back to Three Rivers after graduation to live and help work toward the big dreams for Huss School. Five more followed, for a total of eight college graduates so far. All in all, over a hundred volunteers have served around 1,500 hours at the school.

And it hasn't all just been maintenance (though the neighbors have said they appreciate the good care *cino is taking of the place). The *cino interns have taken a big bite of imagination and they've started dreaming, too! They've researched dozens of grants and are just beginning to write them. They've begun relationships with some of the neighborhood kids and played games with them. They've invited their friends and family members (about 20 of them on 4th of July weekend alone) to come see what's happening here in our small town. They've settled in to the rectory at Trinity Episcopal church and started volunteering at the soup pot, working downtown, inviting new friends over for dinner, going to movies at the Riviera. Some of them are pondering staying for a whole year. Oh, AND: they planned and organized the Future Festival--let's not forget about that!

2010 Huss Future Festival

The Future Festival took place on July 24, 2010 and featured a rummage sale, live music, a bake sale, a coffee house, a ping pong challenge, art vendors, a Huss history room and an interactive art exhibit. Planned by the interns with the help of a committee of community members, the Future Festival was a chance to invite people in once again to a place that holds so many memories of the past and so many possibilities for the future. Visitors from five states showed up along with a whole bunch of local folks and by the end of the day, about 350 people came to share their stories and become part of the school's future. It was a lovely party, even for those who lost a game of ping pong to Grandpa Duke or emptied their pockets.

Triple Ripple Community Garden

The Future Festival was a highlight of the summer season at the school, but we can't forget the community garden! Way back in February, a case of right-place-right-time put *cino folks in touch with Julianna Sauber and Brenda McGowan. Around a humble kitchen table in the middle of a hard freeze, an idea sprouted into a mission, which grew into a glorious garden! With land at the school and water donated by the city of Three Rivers and seeds and gloves and tools and plants from all over God's creation, Triple Ripple Community Gardens grew and donated over 1,000 pounds of fresh vegetables to families in need throughout the area, including some who helped work the garden themselves. Kids and adults alike put plants in the ground; faithfully weeded and watered and harvested; and then celebrated at the end of the season with a potluck dinner.

Demolition

While summer was yet warming the soil and the school at 8th and Broadway, two more groups of volunteers made the pilgrimage from Grand Rapids, Michigan to begin a new phase of work: demolition! Get that old carpeting out of there, *cino folks said. We want to see the maple floors again! Get that old drop ceiling down; we want to see the history of the space. Get those piles of junk out of the boiler room so the old elevator can breathe! It was a dusty job, but somebody had to do it. And 35 students and staff members from Calvin College came through, filling a 30-yard dumpster in just 7 hours of work spread over two weekends. Visitors on the workdays were especially eager to see evidence of a key memory from their kindergarten days: the circle on the floor.

Next steps

Nowadays, the garden folks are packing it in for the winter and *cino is seeking energy for the future. 2010 has been a good, full year so far at Huss School, with many people from near and far stopping the school by for all sorts of reasons--tours, sales, work, memories, and of course, fresh cucumbers. Each and every one of them has been invited to see not just what is, but what could be. If these bold and creative *cino people can do what they've done so far without any sort of working budget, imagine what they can do when there's a community kitchen at the school turning produce from the local land into old fashioned canned goods for sale and distribution! Imagine what they can do when there's a pay-what-you-can restaurant at the old Huss School serving people of all economic levels with fresh, healthy, gourmet food! Imagine how local teen-agers might change their perception of Three Rivers when there's a youth-run space for film and live music that engages them in event planning and promotion for amazing artistic activities right in their hometown! Imagine the ripple effects when there are 12 college students coming to study and serve in Three Rivers every semester, planting the seed of a lifelong connection with this community!

The seed of imagination has sprouted at Huss School and it stands to grow as infinitely tall as Jack's beanstalk, but it won't happen overnight and it won't happen without your help. If all the parents and grandparents and Woman's Club members and church members and business owners and artists and teen-agers and trades people and neighbors can dream big dreams and then get to work together--why, who knows what might happen at 8th and Broadway. The small things that have already sprouted there have encouraged dozens of folks throughout the community and put Three Rivers on the map for hundreds of folks around the world. What can you give to keep the dream growing up and up and up?

This is not THE END of the story; it's just the beginning. And may we all live happily, creatively ever after...

Reason #27: Compared to urban areas, rural areas are often underserved in the areas of the arts and community gathering spaces.

One of our favorite stories lately has been that of a restaurant in a Maine tourist town that, when everything else in town shuts down for the winter, stays open on Fridays for soup lunches and live music. Locals make their way through the snow to share conversation and good food and for many, Friday becomes a bright spot in a long and lonely season. Customers can even take soup to-go for those who can't make it out of their homes. And the best part? It's all pay-what-you-can.

Like the folks who started this restaurant, we recognize that there's often a lack of third places (except bars) in rural areas, particularly late at night and in the winter. We hope the school can provide a place where there are intergenerational arts activities taking place at many times of day year-round, with special attention paid to filling the gaps. We also hope the school can be a place where our wonderful local established artists and organizations can collaborate to bring arts opportunities to the school's walkable, diverse neighborhood. Whether we're welcoming a senior citizen at risk for depression in the winter or a middle school kid who's dangerously bored in the summer, we hope the school can become a place that defies rural stereotypes and statistics.