Grace Lutheran Mission Festival

Grace Lutheran Church’s Harvest Mission Festival was held Saturday, November 12, 2022. The festival is one of two major fundraisers put on by Grace Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (GWELCA), the other being their Spring Salad Luncheon. The event has been taking place longer than anyone on the GWELCA board can remember, according to board president Kathy Maxon. The event was able to be held this year after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19 concerns. Angie Kaelberer, treasurer of GWELCA board, was one of many involved with the Harvest Mission Festival to express her joy and gratitude for its return. “It’s an excellent way to connect the community – people coming from different churches, all having lunch together."

The Harvest Mission Festival includes a lunch served in Grace Lutheran Church’s fellowship center, a craft sale, and a bake sale with baked goods donated by members of the Grace Lutheran Church congregation. The Scandinavian goods are always the most popular, and the sale once again included fresh lefse. GWELCA gets the lefse from a group in Rushford, picking it up the day before the festival so that it’s as fresh as possible – barely 24 hours old at the time of sale. Lefse has been a hit at the Harvest Mission Festival for many years. The return of the festival this year led to phone calls to the church from all around town confirming it was still scheduled: many callers reserved purchases in advance just to ensure they could get their share. “It’s practically a service,” said Marlys Monahan, secretary of the GWELCA board about the lefse sale. The Harvest Mission Festival also includes a craft sale: this year several quilts handmade by a member of the Grace Lutheran Church’s quilting group were being offered.

All money raised at the Harvest Mission Festival is used to support missions, locally and beyond. Some of the charities that have benefited from past fundraisers include Lutheran World Relief, Lutheran Social Services, Crossroads Campus Ministry at Mankato State University, Bethlehem Inn, the Jeremiah Project, the Waseca Food Shelf and Neighborhood Service Center, LAMP Ministries, and the Marie Sandvik Center.