Camden Church “Coffeehouse” Celebrates Fifteen Years

photo above from Trinity, Camden’s Facebook page.

“We are small, but that doesn’t matter,” says Jessie Gotham of the congregation she’s been part of for 51 years. “We have heart. We’re feeding the whole flock.” By “the whole flock,” she means not only the members who come together every Sunday at Trinity Episcopal Church in the small town of Camden, but the wider community around the church.

This January marks the fifteenth year of Trinity’s monthly “Community Coffeehouse” concerts. Except for December (reserved for the annual Christmas concert) and the summer months, the church offers the community monthly live entertainment from professional musicians from all over the region. Concerts are open to the public and free of charge. The church’s Ladies Guild provides refreshments. More than once, the crowd has been standing room only.

Upcoming programs include:

• The Queen Village Christmas Show (Saturday, Dec. 16th at 1:00 and 7:00 p.m.); live holiday music from a variety of artists. Donations collected for the Camden Food Pantry.
• String Bee (Saturday, Jan. 20th at 7:00 p.m.); hammered dulcimer with keyboard and guitar.
• Eddie Foster (Saturday, Feb. 17th at 7:00 p.m.); Elvis-style performance.

All events take place at Trinity Episcopal Church, 98 Main Street in the village of Camden. 

If such an ambitious series and its success seem unlikely in a small church, Gotham knows where the credit goes. “This church has been blessed,” says Gotham. “God has taken care of us. My mother used to say that God helps children and fools. And fools rush in, don’t they? So we just started it.”