Blessing of the Blossoms 2023 | Jane Boursaw Photo
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The annual Blessing of the Blossoms took place this past weekend, and the event drew a nice crowd to St. Joseph Catholic Church, where the ceremony took place.
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Blossoms in the church (blessed by Father Rexroat) were supplied by Mary Lyon from her farm. Pie and wine were served in the church’s community room, with pie donated by Sara Lee and wine by local wineries.
Then I followed Father Rexroat around the Old Mission Peninsula as he blessed the farms and vineyards and chatted with the farmers.
Read more about the history of the Blessing of the Blossoms here, an event which dates back more than 100 years on the OMP. Here are some photos of this year’s event – read the captions for more details.
Blessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church and Stephanie Coggon in her orchard | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church at Bonobo Winery | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church and Jeff Hughes of Chateau Grand Traverse | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church and Mary Lyon in her orchard | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church at Mary Lyon’s farm | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church with Father Fred’s “Blessings” book | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church with Ben Buchan and Karen Buchan at Buchan’s Blueberry Hill Farm | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church with Tom McCracken and Jen Tobias at their orchard | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church with Bob Begin of Chateau Chantal | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church with Bob Begin of Chateau Chantal | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church at Brys Estate Vineyard and Winery | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church with little farmers at the Lardie’s orchard | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church with little farmers at the Lardie’s orchard | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church with Jack, Laurie and Georgia Holman in their orchard | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church blesses blossoms supplied by Mary Lyon from her orchard | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Rev. Peter Shumar of Old Mission Congregational Church gives a blessing at St. Joseph Catholic Church | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Pastor Andrea Johnson of Old Mission Peninsula United Methodist Church gives a blessing at St. Joseph Catholic Church | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Bob Begin holds a bottle of Chateau Chantal wine at St. Joseph Catholic Church | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; The Pie Ladies at St. Joseph Catholic Church | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; St. Joseph Catholic Church; wine from Chateau Chantal | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; LaVonda Buchan with her mom, Karen Buchan, at St. Joseph Catholic Church | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; Father Rexroat of St. Joseph Catholic Church with Bob Begin of Chateau Chantal | Jane Boursaw PhotoBlessing of the Blossoms 2023; St. Joseph Catholic Church | Jane Boursaw Photo
SUPPORT YOUR INDEPENDENT LOCAL NEWSPAPER: I started Old Mission Gazette in 2015 because I felt a calling to provide the Old Mission Peninsula community with local news. After decades of writing for newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Family Circle and Ladies' Home Journal, I really just wanted to write about my own community where I grew up on a cherry farm and raised my own family. So I started my own newspaper.
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Thank you, Jane, for taking these beautiful photos of an important day – tradition! We all appreciate these greatly!
Thanks, Marie and Bob! It’s always fun following Father Rexroat around to the farms and vineyards for this meaningful event each year.
Thank you Jane! These are so lovely! We are blessed to have you in this great community and this wonderful event!