Vermont, 1991

In December of 1991 a group of us from Springfield Friends Meeting joined with a larger group from North Carolina Yearly Meeting to travel to Burlington, VT for Youthquake '91.  We joined with several hundred Quaker youth from across the U.S. and around the world for a week of praise, teaching and fellowship.  My wife Marilyn and I both attended, and we agree that this trip was remarkable for one major reason:  We remember almost nothing about it!  Of all the major trips and events we were part of, none stand out as little as this one.

If you have followed this blog at all, you know that I have a keen memory and kept detailed files on my ministry.  I remember details others never knew existed in the first place.  But Vermont is pretty much a blank.  Here's what I do remember:

• We travelled by BUS from NC, and stayed in a very nice hotel in Burlington.  I really don't remember who went from Springfield besides us.
• We discovered Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream at it's Vermont factory (the picture above is a current pic of the place;  I have no memory of what it looked like then!) and became addicted to Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey!
• We took a one day sight-seeing trip to Montreal and saw many old cathedrals and an underground mall of some sort.
• The people leading music were from Iowa.  The music was pretty cheesy and those of us from NC knew almost none of it.  I couldn't really complain since I had led the music in Denver at Youthquake '88, and as far as I knew people there might have felt the same way about me!  One plus to the music leadership- this was where I learned the song Sanctuary.
• I cannot remember a single speaker- but I am sure they were excellent!
• Our old pal James Ward did the closing New Year's Eve concert, which rocked the house.
• Our buses were to leave right after the concert to start our marathon trip home.  Again, my memory is foggy about that night.  I know for sure we had all kinds of mechanical problems, sat in a parked bus for hours, and almost never got home.  I also have a vague recollection of some girls (including our own Emily Beggs and Jennifer Simmons) getting in trouble for trying to remove a huge Youthquake '91 banner that was hanging high in the lobby of the hotel.  But I could easily be wrong about all of that.

I have no pictures or video.  I have no brochure or newsletter detailing who went or who spoke.  And, as you can tell, I have precious little memory of the event.  It is my hope that someone out there amongst my readers will remember.  Please leave comments here, or e-mail me at youthguy07@aol.com if you have info to share.  Until then, I will assume that Youthquake '91 was a great event, where lives were changed and where God showed up in some amazing ways- because God always does.  I just wish I could remember it...

Because of Jesus,