Churches plan Summer Jubilee student gathering in Marysville

Published 10:52 pm Tuesday, July 22, 2008

MARYSVILLE — On the best day of the year, Emily Masten shows up to work at 5:45 a.m.

It starts out quiet, with just a few bleary-eyed people gathered at Asbery Field in Marysville. By 10 a.m., when the first of 10,000 people begin streaming in, Masten knows the chaos won’t stop until late in the evening.

She loves it.

Every year, Summer Jubilee means Masten, 21, will see all of her favorite people, all at the same time.

“This is a day that I super, super, super look forward to,” she said. “You know how at Christmas, you kind of forget yourself? Summer Jubilee is like that. We can get into each other’s lives and care about each other.”

Summer Jubilee is Marysville’s back-to-school extravaganza, planned each year by a group of Christian churches. Among the free loot for visitors is thousands of school supply kits, hundreds of haircuts and more than enough high-octane Christian sermons and music to go around.

It’s the best there is, said Masten, a Marysville native who has volunteered at Summer Jubilee since she was a junior in high school. Masten’s love affair with Summer Jubilee is rooted in her faith — a seed that blossomed into an all-consuming passion at Turning Point Church World Outreach Center, one of the churches behind Summer Jubilee.

“I went to church when I was younger, but I was really angry,” she said. “I even hated people. It was really bad.”

That changed when she started attending Turning Point’s youth group, she said.

She started noticing things. Instead of turning away from what she thought were hardened faces, Masten said she began to see people smiling. She began to recognize the faces she passed when she drove through the city.

Marysville people are joyful people, she said.

Now, she’s a receptionist at Turning Point, where lately she’s been answering questions about Summer Jubilee.

“They call and say, ‘Can I come? How much does it cost?’” she said. “‘I say, ‘Yeah, you can come, and it’s free! It’s all free!’”

Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.

Summer Jubilee

The 2008 Summer Jubilee will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 10 at Marysville Junior High School’s Asbery Field at 1605 Seventh St. in Marysville.

For more information, call 360-653-1822 or go to www.summerjubilee.info.