Evo's Show/People Report
The Virginia Art & Rubberstamp Festival
Virginia Beach, VA
Oct 11 & 12, 2003
Sponsored by:
Heirloom Productions

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Heyyyyy, Folks...

Again, we enjoyed our yearly drive from FL to VA. This year, Cevo went with us ... which made the trip extra special!

On our drive up, we went through some serious rain ... but that's a good thing! I never, ever complain about rain.

We arrived in Va Beach late Thursday afternoon, several hours later than we expected to arrive ... due to Mr Evo's "short cut". Two hours after leaving I-95, Cevo and I dubbed this part of our trip ... not a "short cut", but ... "Mr Evo's Scenic Route". And yes, we did save 40 miles of interstate. But yes, that 40 miles took us 3 times as long to navigate on the back roads of NC than it would have taken on the Interstate. And ... yes! We're glad we took "Mr Evo's scenic route". We saw that part of NC as we never would have seen it by staying on the Interstate.

And as for the show?
You came again!
You filled our Friday class
With a smile and a grin!
And you came Saturday, also,
And Sunday, too!
You who had a hurricane only a couple of weeks before ...
When the doors to the show opened? There stood you!

We are in awe of you.

And Kriz and Bill Ernst ... our helpers at this show? We are in awe of you, too! Only a couple of weeks before the show, you evacuated Hampton to live in a motel in Richmond ... taking with you what you felt you couldn't live without ( which included two very, very special cats) and not knowing if what you left behind would be there when you returned. You had every right to tell me ... "Evo, we can't be at the show. We need to clean up after the storm and get repairs done." But you didn't. You were there for us and even stayed to help us pack up on Sunday.

And on top of all of this??? Kriz and Bill took us to see the live performance of "Lord of the Dance" in Norfolk, Friday night. What a show! I've always been an admirer of "River Dance" what little I've seen of it on tv, and after seeing "Lord of the Dance" in real life? I know Mr Evo and I have to also go see River Dance when it comes again to FL ... in real life.

And speaking of real life ... on our trip down I-95 back to Florida ... we had the joy of seeing a tiny slice of one person's life dream. Mr Evo announced as we drove south ... "At the next exit is the 'Smallest Church in America' ". How did he know? There was a sign on I-95. Cevo and I never saw the sign, but Mr Evo did. Sooooooo, we took the next exit.

As a side note, Mr Evo has "collected" churches in all of our travels since the day we were married ... from when we drove to Tucson, AZ , two weeks after our wedding ... to our trip to Europe when he was working for Delta Airlines in 1970 ... and even more-so when he was in Saudi Arabia in the early '80's when I would fly to meet him twice a year in different countries ... and then when I joined him in Saudi for a year and we took trips out of the country. Yes. I would have to say Mr Evo is a "collector" of churches.

So now you know why we took the "next exit" on I-95 without question. And, I'm sooo glad we did.

As we pulled off of the exit... there was a sign at a gas station... "Info on America's Smallest Church here". I stopped the car, and Mr Evo went in and picked up the brochure. We traveled one more mile south on US17 and saw the church on the left. It was tiny. The brochure sez it holds 13 people, and I'm here to tell you that's gotta be true. Yes, it's tiny, but the story behind it isn't.

In 1949, Agnes Harper, a rural grocer, wanted to build a tiny church ... her life's dream. She had limited funds, and the locals said she couldn't afford to build the kind of chapel that would do justice to God. Agnes said, "It's the thought that matters, not the scope."

Agnes built this 10' x 15' chapel in the woods and invited everyone ...even the skeptics ... to come and worship. Agnes is now dead, but her non-denominational chapel lives on, thanks to donations and being adopted by the county Chamber of Commerce. This "doll-house" chapel with it's stained glass windows imported from England and a glass star in the roof that permits the sunlight to light up the entire interior at noon each day made our day ... on our return trip from Va Beach.

And yes ... I took pictures. Hope you enjoy this "side-trip" as much as Mr Evo, Cevo, and I did!
Virginia Beach 03 pics

And... thanks again, Va Beach, for luring us up "north" for a few days! As usual, the trip was worth it!

Ellen :}> Evo