This year, our 8th annual Alchemy Fest event was held at First Unity Spiritual Campus in St. Petersburg and as expected, this year’s event was the biggest and best so far, doubling past records at well over 4oo attendees.
This year’s event committee – Lorrie McMurrian, Jennifer Oppelt, Christa Leonard, Jessica Respondek, and Shanna Gillette – did an amazing job pulling together a much more ambitious event than we’ve done in years past – including live music, dance performances, workshops, a vendor marketplace, and 7 interactive “Transformation Stations” which included everything from guided meditation and chair massage to hula hooping and face painting.
We’re also very grateful to our huge crew of volunteers (Jake Respondek, Dan McMurrian, Tanya Sharkey, Lil Reisman, Sarah Davis, Charlie Forsyth, Ashley Butler, Chelsea Greene, Trina Hill, Dwayne Scheuneman, Joel Conrad, Catherine St. John and Gina Smith), as well as the amazing staff at First Unity (Denise, Neil, and Sharon).
Shanna captured some amazing photographs of the festivities as well as performances by RedFeather, Geri X, Sons of Hippies, The Gita and Rise of Saturn. Check out the gallery below.
This year’s presenting sponsors were Thank You Mama and Number 9 Salon.
If you were there and have stories and/or feedback from the event, please share it in the comments section. I can’t express how thankful I am to everyone that has helped grow this event into such an amazing and meaningful annual gathering for our community. Every one of you have my sincere thanks and profound gratitude.
Joran Oppelt
President, Integral Church
Video of the Opening Ceremony, featuring Joe Terrana and Raihan Alam
Integral Church 