Posted on 08/12/2020 7:27:40 AM PDT by billorites
Gov. Chris Sununu says a planned tent revival in New Ipswich for this week will have to follow his new mandate, requiring gatherings of more than 100 people to wear masks.
The group organizing the tent revival is called The Last Reformation, and is led by a controversial Danish evangelist, Torben Søndergaard.
In late July, the group made headlines in Illinois made where it held a series of revival events with hundreds of people who did not wear face coverings or follow social distancing orders.
New Ipswich town administrators are advising area residents and businesses to take extra precautions to protect themselves from COVID-19, while a tent revival takes place in town starting on Aug. 14.
“We know a spike could occur at any time. We know that large events that typically gather over 100 individuals typically have folks gathering from out of state and can be super-spreader events,” said Gov. Sununu at a press conference Tuesday.
The group has told New Ipswich administrators that they will not wear masks or follow social distancing guidelines.
“Any event of this scope, at this point in our time would raise concerns, especially when you have the organizers say they don’t feel they need to practice COVID-19 protocols to protect everybody. I think that’s certainly getting under people’s skin,” said town administrator Scott Butcher.
The group is expecting about 200 to 500 attendees over the course of their event, which runs until Aug. 23, and will be based at the property of Rep. Paul Somero.
The group also plans on doing outreach in New Ipswich and surrounding towns.
Butcher says the town and the Attorney General’s office have let organizers know about state guidelines, emergency and executive orders around COVID-19.
“I also emphasized to them as guests in our state we would appreciate it if they would respect state of New Hampshire regulations and laws, and follow the governor’s orders,” Scott said.
Matt Peterson is an artist who lives in New Ipswich. He says he and his family plan on going into town as little as possible while the revival is taking place.
“We’re just going to try to avoid going to any of the stores in New Ipswich, and neighboring towns. Really, just practice social distancing, always wear a mask and stay low, while this is happening, because there’s not a lot we can do at this point.”
Some members of The Last Reformation have already arrived in New Hampshire, according to Søndergaard’s most recent Facebook post.
In his press conference Tuesday, Sununu said that “we will not hesitate to enforce penalties or fines to event organizers who willfully or dangerously disobey the rules we’ve put forth.”
Butcher, the town administrator, says he and the New Ipswich select board will discuss the new mask mandate at a meeting Tuesday night. He says he feels that with the new mandate, the public will expect active enforcement, but he’s worried about how this might strain his small town’s police resources.
“For us, we’re so close to this event starting now that trying to react and be prepared is going to be a little bit more difficult,” he said.
These articles are being shared by partners in The Granite State News Collaborative. For more information visit collaborativenh.org.
Can’t it just be a mostly peaceful protest?
With that many Christians involved? Fat chance.
It's the Finnish element that people find most threatening.
hold the services in the street..have a riot first.. burn some businesses to the ground.. throw rocks at police.. loot stores.. block streets.. and last thing.. gather together and pray...
sounds ridiculous? yes!!
which activity above would they stop?
Look out! A spike may be involved!
We cannot do masks and social distancing forever. There needs to be a deadline for ending them that will take effect unless the hospitals are filling due to genuine virus cases. Say, 6 months from now.
Stanley Ipswich?
Stanley Ipswich?
Mask? I get it now!!
I live about 15 miles from New Ipswich. It is full of Finish immigrants. Not recent. They have been there for 150 years or more.
This was on the local ABC news out of Manchester, NH.
There is also motorcycle rally in Laconia next week. It typically happens in June annually. This year they moved it back to August. It is usually the 3rd largest motorcycle rally in the US. Behind Sturgis and Daytona.
So, these two gatherings of large amounts of out of state people has the government of NH concerned that this could bring in a spike of covid to NH. They are not singling out these Finish religious gathering for any reason other than that.
New Ipswich is a small town.
Population of 5000 people.
If you closed your eyes for 30 seconds while driving through downtown you would miss it.
I do not even think there is a traffic light in town.
IF 500 people come to town for this, they are probably staying at relatives houses. Mom & Dads and grandma’s house.
Isn’t that motorcycle rally the one done yearly by the Hell’s Angels?
I know these people.
They are Apostolic Lutherans.
REALLY GOOD people!
I worked with them back in June, cutting, splitting, and stacking wood. No masks, no “social distancing”, hugs and handshakes all around. Lemonade and snacks out in the open. Nobody got sick.
I’ll probably go to this conference at least one of the days.
The Hells Angels attend the Laconia Bike Week rally. They have nothing to do with its organization. Most people DO NOT even make eye contact with them.
The Laconia Bike Week started with the Loudon Classic motorcycle races. Loudon are the oldest motorcycle races in the USA. This makes 97 years. Older than Daytona. They race the superbikes at NH International Speedway. This track incorporates the same Magic Mile track used for NASCAR races plus another 3/4 miles road course outside of the mile oval.
https://www.nhms.com/events/motorcycle-week-at-nhms/
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