Periodically you see reminders in this place about our upcoming Trinity Fest, and that will of course continue to happen. But this post introduces a new feature, which is a periodic tidbit on what it is we think we’re doing.
Trinity Fest is a descendant of the February history conference, which we held for many years. Over the years that event grew until we were hitting around 900 attendees. This was for a conference that consisted almost entirely of lectures on various history topics, and which was held in February, which is, following George Grant’s comment on it, the spell during which this place “looks like Mordor.” I tell people that we did this so that people would not come to the conference, fall in love with the Palouse, and move here. This is what they would almost certainly do if they came here in any of the other eleven months, even from Tennessee, George.
We moved the event to August for a couple reasons. The first was that our local agitators had spooked the UI to such an extent that we would have had to pay mega-bucks for security and other hassle factors, if the UI even agreed to rent to us. But this just provided the occasion — we were looking to move anyhow. And here is some of the thinking behind that.
Reformed types are wound too tight. If we offer overcast skies and lots of heady talks, we can pack them out. Offer gorgeous weather, concerts, plays, banquets, recreation, and one less talk total, it is a much tougher sell. Now don’t get me wrong. We have had wonderful times at Trinity Fest, and have had good attendance — more than a quorum for our celebrations. But we have not yet hit the levels of attendance that we used to have back in the February days when it was almost entirely data transfer. It is hard to escape the conclusion that this is something that many Reformed types need to work on.
And unfortunately, the ones who need to work on letting their supralapsarian hair down are generally the ones who don’t come. Those who come have been having a glorious time, as we anticipate having again this August. So let me urge you to make a point of it. And perhaps some of you who are planning to come might make a point of inviting someone you know, someone who could stand a dose of epistemological sunshine.