The Wesley Bell Ringer 2022 Summer Tour Day 1, 

Salt Lake City, UT to Sparks, NV

And off we go, under the rainbow!

 Day 1

June 12, 2022

Tour has begun! After meeting at 7:00 a.m. at the church on Saturday, we packed up and after and prayer with Pastor Rusty we embarked on our journey. It was a long drive from SLC to Sparks, Nevada but all went well and there was a lot of time for everyone to settle in. We ate lunch in Elko and then a short break got us into Sparks with plenty of time for a rehearsal followed by a taco dinner provided by the church. The concert was wonderful and the kids were amazing as they played for our audience. The evening was a combination of host homes and hotel rooms, and everyone arrived ready to go this morning. We packed up and the bus went under a rainbow as we left for San Francisco. Everyone is doing well and having a great time!

Ringer Blog: Zooey

Today was so much fun! We spent 7 hours on the bus but it felt like 2! It was so fun having so many easy-going people in the group! We stopped in Elko for lunch and had some good times with friends. It was a good start to an awesome trip!

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Sparks, Nevada

The entire group!

    

                                                        Loading the bus for the first time!

Jen and Zooey met with Greg and Taryn, Zooey's Aunt and Uncle at the concert.

Tia Middlestadt with Marysia and Rachel

The bank

Wes and CP helped the ringers learn to load the bus.

Pastor Rusty gave us a warm send off- thank you!

All the stuff was loaded and ready

Chaperones, check!

Announcing 2022 Summer Tour

2021 Summer Tour (COVID Style)

Posted 6/2/21:  Join us at Christ United Methodist Church June 13th at 10:00am…

"The Wesley Bell Ringers will be celebrating Wesley Bell Ringer Sunday in person this year on June 13th. We are so excited to get back into church and ring for you. We are a diverse group with varying comfort levels and vaccination statuses. We are asking for the congregation to support us by wearing masks in service on June 13th. While we realize that local and church mask mandates and general comfort levels have relaxed, we as a choir have decided to continue wearing masks to make sure that each ringer feels safe and supported for the rest of this year. As the Director, I ask for this consideration from our congregation to show the youth of CUMC and our surrounding community that we care! Please join us in worship on the 13th and wear your masks!"
- Katie Lay, Director of The Wesley Bell Ringers

Wesley Bell Ringer Sunday

Ever since my first Wesley Bell Ringer concert, I'd always wondered what it would be like to be one of the teenagers ringing in front of me. I was so certain that when I finally made it into high school I would be a Wesley and go on the big summer tour and do all the dinners, rummage sales, and retreats. When I was finally old enough to join, I was so excited to play harder music, meet new friends and be a part of something as amazing as this organization. After the busy Christmas my freshman year, we started to prepare for our spring ring event and our much anticipated summer tour. We got new music, readied ourselves for the busy coming months and then: Boom. The world came to a screeching halt. “Two weeks of spring break!? No way!!'' I said to myself. But little did I know. 

I was sad to have no spring ring, and to not be able to meet for bells twice a week anymore, but I just sat and waited. Those two weeks turned into four, and those four weeks turned into 8 and before any of us knew it, the tour had come and gone. I missed bells, I missed my friends, my directors, the congregation, and I felt robbed of all the hard work we had done to prepare for the tour. I was angry, sad and it felt like the spark I felt for bells went out temporarily. I wanted to give up, I could've given up. But when we were told we could start back up in the fall, I knew that I couldn't.  I knew that we all had to keep this organization alive. I knew in the back of my mind that it wouldn't be a normal year with our classic activities and concerts. And we all knew that tour was most likely not an option, but we were all prepared for that. The group of kids standing before you are some of the most amazing, persevering, hard working people I know. Being able to stick with the choir over these last 14 months when you can't be certain about what next week will even look like is a truly remarkable feat. But every single week, we all come together for our four hours of rehearsal and we pretend that nothing is going on outside of those music room doors, everyone comes in with a smile on their face ready to ring, and it always made those sad days of online school trapped in our rooms just that little bit better.

The Wesley Bell Ringers have been an organization in this church for 57 years, and just this past Wednesday at our annual birthday dinner, the choir received its 500th ringer.  Five hundred teenagers have made a commitment to this choir over all these years and still here we are today, on our Wesley Bell Ringer Sunday performing in front of you again.  Another year without a tour is definitely a disheartening feeling. Another year of hard work with no big reward at the end. Most people would throw the towel in after having that happen two years in a row. But all of these kids and the hundreds of alumni who came before them know the real reason behind the magic of the choir... the real beauty of this organization isn't the big exciting tour in the summer, it's the laughs shared at every single practice. It's Anna making a joke and Katie not being able to control her laughter on the podium in front of us. It's the new friends you make every single year and getting to meet people you otherwise would never have crossed paths with.  And it’s the feeling inside when the whole choir finally gets that song to sound the way it should.  Most people will never get to experience something like this, and yet all of the teenagers in this room will walk away from their high school years thanking themselves for not walking away and giving up even in the hardest of times.

-Lily Chidester, Sophomore

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Posted 6/8/21:  We are excited to announce The Wesley Bell Ringers summer concert schedule! With the pandemic still coming under control, we have decided to forgo our 2021 summer tour plans to travel out-of-state. Instead, we will be performing locally in Utah during the last week of June. We hope to see you in the audience!

Posted 6/25/21:  Back on the bus, y'all! Ready for a fun day on our local mini tour!  Throughout the week, we will perform at several local churches taking precautions like masking, social distancing, and playing outdoor concerts.  We will also manage to have a few fun activities to make it feel like a "real tour" including renting a movie theater, having a pool party, going zip lining, and rafting the Weber River.

Holladay United Church of Christ

St Paul United Methodist Church

Rafting the Weber River

During 2021, CUMC posted almost all Sunday sermons on the website so folks who could not attend in-person were able to view online at home.  Masks were encouraged for in-person attendees when COVID numbers were high and The Wesley Bell Ringers were among those taking extra precautions to keep the community safe.  We had to get creative this year for fundraising events, even skipping the Spring rummage sale, switching to online formats for some performances and finding alternatives for keeping traditions alive.  For the birthday dinner, we postponed several months and had it catered on the church's front lawn.  For the rose dinner, we reserved a restaurant that allowed our group social distancing and for the home concert, we asked the congregation to mask and hosted the cookie reception outdoors.  

The Wesley Bell Ringer

2021 Home Concert

2020 Summer Tour COVID Canceled

Posted 4/4/20:  2020 Summer Tour ​Covid-19 Update

Like many of you, we are struggling to adapt to this new reality. With this rapidly changing landscape, I don't feel comfortable making a definitive decision regarding our summer tour. June feels like a lifetime away.  It could be that we'll have to cancel entirely, or we could all find ourselves free and clear, and desperately wanting to share in community and fellowship.

This organization has been around since 1963, and we have held 54 consecutive summer tours. I am working on ways to modify our typical tour, or provide alternative activities in order to give my teenagers the well-earned rewards for all their hard work.

I am praying for good health and peace to all of us in these trying times. 

Best,
Katie Lay
Director—The Wesley Bell Ringers

Life came to a screeching halt in March 2020 but our bell family managed to navigate a pandemic and quarantine by sticking together.  With everything from holding parking lot outdoor gatherings, to birthday drive-by parades, to zoom calls, and drop-by surprises.  Eventually, once everyone was masking and we learned we could make things safer by social distancing and hand-washing practices, we were able to meet in-person to rehearse once again and we were able to actually perform a "home concert" - even if there was no live audience - it meant the world to hear the choir ring again.

Posted 5/26/20: During this difficult time, The Wesley Bell Ringers have been the recipients of many acts of kindness from surprise treat bags from Katie & Anna to custom made yard signs made by a bell parent. The choir has not had the opportunity to ring bells since the beginning of March, but are hopeful that this summer they will be able to play together!  It may not be a tour, but we are determined to ring bells together again soon!

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Posted 5/28/20:  Join us (virtually) this Sunday for Wesley Bell Ringer Sunday! The service will be posted on the CUMC webpage. CUMC is also hosting virtual coffee hour via zoom at 11 AM. It's a fun way to connect with your church and bell family!

Wesley Bell Ringer Sunday

(pre recorded due to COVID quarantine)

May 31, 2020

Posted 6/27/20:  Hello friends! We have been safely practicing in socially distant rehearsals during the month of June. Tonight at 730pm, we'll be performing and sharing the concert via livestream. Please tune in and be sure to share the link with family and friends!  The ringers have enjoyed the opportunity to get back together and make music and they'd love to share it with you.  Despite the disappointment of not being able to participate in MANY of The Wesley Bell Ringer traditions & events, this year's choir is determined to end this bell season with a home concert! Another first for The Wesley Bell Ringers - no live audience in attendance; however tonight's concert will be live streamed for everyone to enjoy!

The Wesley Bell Ringers

2020 Home Concert

(recorded live with a virtual audience)

June 27, 2020