Louis G. Gregory Bahá’í Institute

Radio Bahá’í • WLGI • 90.9 FM

1313 Williams Hill Road • Hemingway, South Carolina 29554

(843) 558-5093 • lgbi@usbnc.org

 

 

 

 

 

NEWS RELEASE

 

For Release: Immediately

Contact: Beverly Collins, (843) 558-9133

 

October 3, 2002

PEACE FEST 2002 MARKS SPECIAL DATE

 

Williams Hill… This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Louis G. Gregory Baha'i Institute in western Georgetown County, near Hemingway. For more than half the three decades of its life, an event known as “Peace Fest” has been an annual high point on the Baha’i Institute's schedule. For 2002, the festival celebrating peace has been combined with the commemoration of the Institute’s 30 years of service to the people of South Carolina and the Southeast.

The joint celebration will take place on Oct. 19 and 20 on the grounds of the Institute. The Louis G. Gregory Baha'i Institute is located in the Williams Hill community at 1313 Williams Hill Rd., two miles north of S.C. 261, near the Williamsburg County line. For directions, MapQuest.com on the Internet is a good source. For more information, call (843) 558-9101. Information is also available by e-mail at lgbi@usbnc.org.

On Saturday, Oct. 19, Peace Fest will feature the Festival of the Arts, beginning at 11 a.m., highlighting a variety of performers and modes of cultural expression, including music that will rang from Latin, to jazz, to reggae, to blues, to barbershop. Beginning at 7 in the evening, the Gospel Explosion will present the Sensational Seven Angels, the One Human Family Workshop Choir, and The Brown Brothers. Also featured during the afternoon will be African drummers, praise dancers, Gullah stories, poets and much more. Vendors will offer books and calendars and candles and jewelry and African art, and foods such as candy apples and Southern barbecue, chicken bog and fried chicken.

The Institute’s 30th anniversary will be officially observed on Sunday, Oct. 20, with a devotional celebration, beginning at 9:30 a.m. The program will focus on the history of the Institute and its impact on the lives South Carolinians and others. In addition, the Louis G. Gregory awards for service to humanity will be presented, along with the prizes awarded to the winners of the annual student essay contest. Refreshments and fellowship will follow the program.

The Louis G. Gregory Baha’i Institute was dedicated on October 22, 1972. The Institute was established by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States as a response to the large numbers of people in South Carolina who, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, expressed interest in the religion or in joining the Baha’i community. The National Spiritual Assembly is the governing body for the religion in this country and has its headquarters on the shores of Lake Michigan in Wilmette, IL, just outside Chicago.

 

 

 

The focus of the Baha’i Institute’s programs today is primarily on community building. Increasingly, the Institute is also becoming a popular conference and retreat center.

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