Come to the Mela!

Grace and Margaret Cook at the Marigold Garland Booth

  Mela is a Hindi word for festival, usually marking a religious event.  Our mela was a "Mission Extravaganza" at the end of September. The Parish Hall of First Presbyterian Church in Smithtown NY was set up like a fair with booths for each mission the congregation supports.  Of course India was well represented, with saris used for draping and three of the booths related to our India Mission.  One of them was educational and two were just for fun and appealed to people of all ages.  The puppet making booth used paper towel rolls, fabric and a paper head to make Indian ladies.  We had plenty of colorful trims, beads and sequins to make each puppet your very own creation.
Our other fun booth used fresh marigold heads to make garlands to wear around the neck.  In India garlands are used to welcome respected guests to an important event.  It was a challenge to find fkresh marigold heads, but of course there is a supplier in upstate New York who sells everything a Hindu Temple would need in the way of floral decor.
The feedback about the event was great, especially from the woman who said her grandchildren rarely remember something for even two hours, but they were still talking about the Mela several days later.  High praise, indeed!