text: Shippensburg Sonlight Praise Fest returns
  SHIPPENSBURG - "Shippensburg's mini-Creation" is how organizer Jennifer Monn describes Sonight Praise Fest, a gathering of local Christian musicians and worship teams who got together last year in Southampton Township, Cumberland County's Cleversburg Park on Memorial Day weekend, and this year will return on Saturday, June 11, to Shippensburg Township Park, 611 Britton Road, for a day of "music, praise and worship," according to a poster promoting the event.
  Musicians on the 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. program include Francis Drost, Leslie McKee, Blushing Well and the Cumberland Valley Quartet., along with a community patriotic choir and band performing a "salute to the Armed Services." Barbecued chicken is on the menu; advance orders are recommended. More than a dozen other vendors are expected, along with kids' games, crafts and face painting.
  The entrance fee to the rain-or-shine event is two cans of food for King's Kettle food bank, and proceeds from the barbecue and passing the hat during performances will go to Christ Among Neighbors and The Harbor - all local charities that serve the Shippensburg area.
  Sonlight founders Monn, Dan Reed, Jeff Shubert, Ryan Thomas and Brian Gayman organized the event because "we just want to sing songs, collect food and money and have a good time," said Monn, who describes herself as a "recent empty nester" who's now a bit older than most members of youth worship teams.
  "The majority of my worship team from Prince Street Church (in Shippensburg) is over 48," she said, and when they got turned down to lead a vespers service in favor of a youth team, "my guitarist said, 'Let's do a hymn sing.'" The loosely-organized hymn sing and food drive grew into Sonlight Praise Fest. Their faith in the event is so strong that they've already booked Shippensburg Township Park for another one next year, on June 24, 2017.
  Attendees are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets. There is some shelter from rain at Shippensburg Township Park and the event is listed as rain or shine, but Monn said they'll post any schedule changes on the Shippensburg Sonlight Praise Fest 2016 page on Facebook.
  For more information, to pre-order chicken or to join the choir or band, call 717-377-3542 or email Dancemother41@gmail.com.