After a day of being indoors at workshops, worship, and thought-provoking messages, hundreds of Dakotas United Methodists unwound at the annual Festival in the Park. Professional chef, Rev. Andy Early, and his crew fed the masses from a hot hamburger and brat buffet, and the cornhole games were on.  Dakota Wesleyan University staffers introduced their 21st president, Dr. Daniel R. Kittle, who attended his first Dakotas Annual Conference since assuming the presidential post in March of 2022. To celebrate, they and brought fresh blue and white popcorn balls from the Corn Palace City.

Kids played on the playsets, several generations of cornhole enthusiasts competed in friendlies, and the weather was beautiful for a time to relax, laugh, and exchange after such a long hiatus from Bismarck, where the Dakotas Annual Conference was last held in 2019. 

Here are a few impressions from the event on Thursday evening in Sertoma Park, near the Missouri River in Bismarck, North Dakota.