HUMBOLDT — A day dedicated to worship and praise kicks off Saturday when Biblesta returns to the Humboldt community for its 66th annual celebration.
As with previous years, the Bible-themed festival features a variety of gospel and nationally recognized music acts along with a free community bean feed and a downtown parade that portrays scenes from the Bible.
Activities kick off at 10 a.m., with fun and games for youth and a musical performance by the Voice of Truth Quartet. They offer a southern gospel sound. Organizers called the quartet “a crowd favorite.”
The Homesick Prodigals, a folk group, follow at 11:45.
The parade begins at 1:30. Prepare to see fantastic, living recreations of familiar Bible stories such as Jonah and the Whale.
After the parade, the Lack Family performs at 2:15. The family sold everything in 2009 to start touring on the road and have since performed around the world. They’ve played in all 50 states, more than a dozen European countries, Japan, Mexico, El Salvador and Canada. The band and crew includes Scott and Paula Lack, their three daughters and their husbands, and the children of those couples.
At 4 p.m., parade awards will be handed out.
Perennial favorite and local musician Lloyd Houk takes the stage at 4:15, followed by youngster Hope Larson at 5.
Also at 5, the free ham and bean feed returns on the southwest corner of the square.
The activities wrap up at 7 with Biblesta After Dark, presenting Modern Day Disciples. All ages are welcome.
BIBLESTA began in 1958 and has been offered annually on the first Saturday of October.
According to Register archives, that first event drew a crowd of about 10,000 from Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma.
The first place entry of the very first Biblesta parade portrayed a scene from “The Exodus” and featured “75 men, women, children, babes in arms, cattle, donkeys and a herd of 25 sheep.” The first parade featured 23 Bible story floats, starting with the story of “Adam and Eve,” and included seven high school marching bands. The one-and-a-half mile long parade took more than an hour to complete. Three state officials attended that first event, including Kansas Supreme Court Justice Schuyler W. Jackson, Lt. Gov. Joseph Henkle and State Rep. A.R. Chambers of Iola.
Dr. Arthur Carlson Jr., a Humboldt veterinarian, was given credit for conceiving the idea and chaired the original committee. He had seen isolated Bible story floats in various Christmas parades and wanted to build an entire parade around a chornologoical depiction of the Bible, from the Old Testament to the New, according to the Register archives.
“He thinks Saturday’s affair may be unique in the entire history of public parades. He and his coworkers agreed that it would almost certainly become an annual Humboldt event in the future,” an article from Sept. 22, 1958, reads.
