Synod hoofs it around Hartford Written by Micki Carter
It looked a bit like the parting of the Red Sea when more than 9,000 Synod-goers poured out of the Hartford Civic Center Saturday morning in search of music, art, drama, ideas and fun, as part of the day's "Synod in the City," spread all around downtown Hartford.
With little attention to traffic lights, two uninterrupted strands of humanity poured down both sides of Trumbull Street as Hartford residents gaped from their cars.
Two liveried doormen at the Hilton intended to direct the crowd to the elevator to the Grand Ballroom, but both just backed up against the glass wall and waited out the crowd.
At Christ Church, valiant volunteers struggled to steer those in search of Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann one way, while simultaneously shepherding a separate audience into Art Cribbs' dramatic conversation between Martin Luther King Jr. and Dietrick Bonhoeffer.
Still others hoofed it across Main Street and into the three venues in the Capital Community College Auditorium, or on to Center Church UCC, the first church in Hartford. Some then discovered their mistake ? they really wanted Christ Church ? and headed back.
Many Synod-in-the-City hoofers sadly encountered the scourge of the neon-green signs proclaiming "This venue is full," which began popping up at many sites. Only those most distant or hard to find offered empty seats.
Blessedly cool weather and a stiff breeze helped keep the UCCers on the move in this pocket-sized city, and they were rewarded with a history tour for their willingness to travel.
Everywhere, UCC tourists found smiling and courteous blue-shirted volunteers offering advice and direction. One volunteer walked half way to Bushnell Park from Wadsworth Atheneum to alert those heading to hear a talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, Leonard Pitts, that it was already full.
"Full" signs were prolific and restrooms weren't. However, those who made it Bushnell Park, could find entire banks of porta-potties called, ever so appropriately, Ameri-Cans. In the background, the voices of the children of First Congregational UCC in Ithaca, N.Y., could be heard singing in the youth musical "Moses."
An entrepreneur set up shop on Main Street in the direct path of the determined Synod-goers, offering handbags and jewelry, but he would have done serious business if he had been selling Band-aids and bottled water, instead.
This was a group on the move, on foot or by shuttle, and the green signs were just a small inconvenience. After all, they had a birthday party to get to.