Circus McGurkis!
Saturday, October 20th, 2018
(tentative date—check back to confirm)
10am – 4pm
Gibbs High School
830 34th St S
St. Petersburg FL 33711
A People’s Fair Celebrating Peace Education, Diversity, & Community Activism
Sponsored by St. Petersburg Friends Meeting (Quakers)
Circus McGurkis is an alternative peoples’ fair focusing on peace education and service to the community with special focus on activities for children and families of all ages and types. It features arts, crafts, music, games and ideas which celebrate the creativity and activism that makes our community a more beautiful, loving and just place to live.
It is an expression of belief in the dignity and worth of each person and in the power of love and nonviolence to bring about change.
Visit our website for more information
You are welcome at Quaker Meeting
We are a diverse and inclusive community of people who support each other in our spiritual journeys and work for positive change in the world.
All are welcome to join us for unprogrammed Quaker Worship on Sunday mornings. Come as you are— dress as you feel comfortable. There are Quakers of all ages, races, education levels, sexual orientations, gender identities, religious backgrounds, and classes.
Quaker worship is based in silence, with no sermon, ritual, or music. Children are invited to attend First Day School after sitting in Meeting for Worship for the first 10 minutes.
Our formal name is St. Petersburg Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. We are affiliated with Southeastern Yearly Meeting and Friends General Conference.
About St. Petersburg Friends
Peace demonstration in St. Petersburg; photo by Leslie Bouwman
St. Petersburg Quakers are active in promoting and advocating Peace, Social Justice, and Sustainability in our community and in the world.
For 45 years, our Meeting has organized the annual Circus McGurkis, the People’s Fair to celebrate peace education, held at Lake Vista Park in St. Petersburg. We also house the stateside office of ProNica, a non-profit founded by Quakers to support grassroots organizations in Nicaragua.
Our efforts have also included actions such as:
- Monthly forums on the second Saturday to explore issues and learn more in order to inform our decisions and actions.
- Fund raising to encourage and support representation at the annual protest at the “School of the Americas”.
- We also donate to other causes and organizations.
- Peace cornering on Wednesdays to call for an end to US aggressions and a start on the road to peaceful solutions.
- Working with Food Not Bombs and others to feed hungry people and focus attention on the problems of homelessness in our community
Demonstration against School of the Americas. photo by Herb Snitzer
Monthly Potluck
Quaker Organizations & Online Resources
Organizations working for Peace, Social Justice, & Sustainability
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC): carries out service, development, social justice, and peace programs throughout the world. AFSC’s work is based on the Quaker belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice.
Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL): a public interest lobby founded by Quakers in 1943. FCNL seeks to bring the concerns, experiences and testimonies of Friends to bear on policy decisions in Congress.
ProNica: provides practical opportunities to support the people of Nicaragua, promoting Quaker testimonies of peace, equality, and community. With offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, and Managua, Nicaragua, ProNica supplies funds, equipment and information to community organizations in Nicaragua; they also offer opportunities for people in the US and the world to learn more about Nicaragua and ProNica’s partners through their Witness Tours.
Organizations Uniting Friends in North America and the World
Southeastern Yearly Meeting (SEYM): our regional organization for Quakers in Florida, southeastern Georgia, and coastal South Carolina.
Friends General Conference (FGC): a national affiliation of unprogrammed Quakers, FGC provides resources and opportunities that educate and invite members and attenders to experience, individually and corporately, God’s living presence, and to discern and follow God’s leadings. FGC reaches out to seekers and to other religious bodies inside and outside the wider Quaker world.
Friends World Committee for Consultation (FWCC): the international Friends organization which works with all the Yearly Meetings of Quakers worldwide, FWCC facilitates a loving understanding of diversities among Friends, helps us celebrate our common spiritual ground, and facilitates full expression of Friends testimonies in the world.
Resources, Bookstores, & Retreats
FGC Quakerbooks: carries hundreds of books of interest to Friends and seekers.
Pendle Hill: a Bookstore and Retreat Center, providing resources for integrated spiritual, intellectual and personal learning in the Quaker tradition.
Quaker Information Center: a gateway to Quakerism, the wider Quaker world, and all things Quaker.
Quaker.org: A main site for the Religious Society of Friends. Look here for a comprehensive set of links to anything Quaker.
QuakerFinder: go here to find Quaker Meetings in the U.S.