The City of Portsmouth highly anticipates the annual “Tour of Churches” event.
Hosted by members of Portsmouth Business and Professional Women, this year’s event will be held Friday, Dec. 11, beginning at the Scioto County Court House at 6 p.m.
The annual Tour of Churches is one of the largest Christmas events in the area, that is always well-attended by members of the community that are eager to see the churches fully-decorated, and arrayed in all of their glory.
Shelby Powell, a member of BPW, said the program at the Court House will feature a host of local talent.
The participating churches will include Evangelical Church of Christ, The Grace Community at Bigelow, Saint Mary of the Annunciation Roman Catholic Church, All Saints’ Episcopal Church, and First Presbyterian Church, all located in the historic Boneyfiddle District of Portsmouth.
For 29 years, BPW of Portsmouth has sponsored the Tour of Churches.
Karen Sue Evans who serves as treasurer for BPW, said the tours started out on a church parking lot.
“I help with the Tour of Churches. I am the first tour guide, and we have done this for many years. I have been in it since 2000, and I’ve helped every year,” Evans said. “This year has been wonderful. It seems like we had a lot more people who came out at six o’clock. When we first had it Margaret Gordley helped to have it, but it was out in the parking lot with a wooden wagon, and they offered punch, and husbands wore top hats and suits. Every one of the ladies dressed in the old fashioned long dresses.”
Evans said she believes the event is an absolutely wonderful, collaborative effort among the churches.
“I think this is a wonderful thing. It allows you to get out and to see, and it really gets you into the holiday spirit, and helps you to see how good God is to all of us,” Evans said. “It is an ecumenical effort. You don’t just have to be from one particular church, you can see some of the other different churches, and it lets you see that God is everywhere.”
The Tour of Churches offered a unique opportunity to behold the beauty contained in the four walls of churches that have been in existence for more than 100 years.
Additionally, each participating church usually provides featured spokesperson, consisting of church leaders to lay persons, who provided the groups with history and information regarding their church, and entertained questions from the audiences.
The BPW Tour of Churches never ceases to be a thriving part of local Christmas festivities, full of rich church history, that compels each avid event-goer.
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