Leetonia church event to offer shared food, live music

LEETONIA

Music and a meal are a match made in heaven at many church events.

That will be the case at a unique event called “How Can We Keep from Singing ... and Eating” on July 17 at Leetonia Mennonite Church.

Greg Bowman, executive director of Goodness Grows, a faith-based food and farming ministry at Common Ground Church Community in North Lima, came up with the idea as a “community-building evening of sharing local foods and acoustic live music and singing.”

A member of Midway Mennonite Church, Bowman had heard and seen the praise band members whose participants are Adrian, Christian and David Labra and Adam Witmer. Bowman also knew that The Walking Roots band was involved in a Hymn Reclamation Project, which sets old hymn lyrics to contemporary music.

He wondered if a collaboration could evolve.

Through emails, Adrian Labra has corresponded with Greg Yoder of Walking Roots. Adrian Labra recently met with Yoder and Seth Crissman, also of Walking Roots, when they were in a recent dinner theater performances at the Dutch Village Inn in Columbiana.

“Through song, you find real meaning in a broad range of emotion that you can’t do in words alone,” Bowman said.

Yoder said he’s excited about the “Singing and Eating” event for a simple reason: “We believe a lot of important faith formation happens when we’re singing ... and when we’re eating.”

Adrian Labra said he, his siblings and Witmer also are in the Labra Brothers Band, which plays Latin rock. “We do a lot of music in Spanish,” he said, adding they also have favorite music from Eric Clapton and Creedence Clearwater Revival.

“We’re hoping to get a taste of bluegrass,” he said of some of the music of Walking Roots. “It will be Latin and bluegrass fusion.”

Yoder said Walking Roots’ repertoire is “acoustic-Americana, faux-folk, blue-ish-grass and roots music.”

As for collaborating with the Labra brothers, Yoder said he’s looking forward to what will take place.

Read more about the event in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.