Five days before the Feast started, the Alberta government came out with more restrictions. For houses of worship, we were required to wear masks, social distance and be reduced to one third capacity for attendance. We were able to rent a third section of the ballroom since another group canceled, and this gave us 660 fire code capacity. One third of that was 220 and that is about how many we had registered. Our high attendance was 176. We seated families in cohort groups, socially distanced. These were assigned seats for the whole Feast. The facility also made outdoor space on the balcony available, where people could take off their masks and drink coffee before and after services, free of charge. Claudia Salomaa, along with volunteers, handled the coffee service as well as stage decorations. 

We were blessed with a great variety of speakers and they did well. The services were webcast and we also had Zoom phone connections.  

Our audio-visual crew did a fantastic job! Hymns and scriptures were projected on three drop-down screens. We used the house speakers and data projectors which worked out well. Each day’s service schedule was shown on TV monitors in the foyer and main entrance. 

Tracey Jongerius coordinated the music for the first time this year. We had quality special music each day as well as offertory on the two Holy Days. For song services, we had a musical ensemble, plus various ones singing in the microphone on-stage. The children’s choir, which was directed by Kate Anderson, did a fantastic job! The technical crew recorded it and made the video available to the parents. 

As usual, Susan Davis did a great job with Festival youth instruction. They shared the projects they worked on with everyone afterwards. 

We were able to capitalize on some of the local attractions including the Tyrrell Museum, Atlas Coal Mine tour and Barney’s Adventure Park. We also had a well-attended variety show, coordinated by Kevin Spahich. It lasted for about an hour and a half. The variety show and all special music and sermons are available to view online at ucgedmonton.org/ArchivedSermons.jsp. 

The brethren were happy to be able to go to a live, in-person Feast site, and they donated generously to the coffee fund and Family Helping Families fund. 

This year was a Feast with lots of fellowship and many people who were happy to serve. Government restrictions on restaurants either requiring proof of vaccination or using just one third capacity for outdoor dining forced more people to entertain in their residences. 

On the last day of the Feast, during announcements, Rainer Salomaa, who has coordinated about 23 Feasts, had decided it was time to step down and turn the reigns over to a younger couple. He and his wife called Mike and Tonya Erickson onto the stage and the baton was passed on for them to begin coordinating. Drumheller is booked for 2022. God blessed us there this year, and we thank Him for that. 

Rainer Salomaa