You know autumn is here when the annual Harvest Sale rolls around at Cypress Springs Presbyterian, the little white church at the crossroads of the Moore County and Harnett County lines.
It’s a day of fellowship, and the best fried chicken you’ll ever taste.
“We expect 500 people to purchase plates and will have about 100-plus people stay for the auction,” said Mary Smith, a longtime church member who can tell you everything you want to know about the church history (circa 1823) and the Harvest Sale. “There is always room for more.”
Dinner is served Saturday from 4–7 p.m. in the fellowship hall, with an auction to follow at 1220 Cypress Church Road in Cameron just beyond Woodlake Country Club.
Plates, dine-in or takeout, are $12 each.
“No price increase this year,” Smith said. “The menu is fried chicken, rice and gravy, green beans, candied yams, roll, a homemade dessert, and a beverage. Or country ham, grits and red eye gravy, green beans, candied yams, roll, a homemade dessert, and a beverage.”
Ninety percent of the fundraising profits will benefit the church building fund, Smith said, with 10% earmarked for the Vass Community Food Pantry.
“We are raising funds to renovate our playground,” Smith said.
Auctioneer Garin Parker will begin the auction at 7 p.m.
“We have two homemade quilts made by the ladies of the church,” Smith said. “There’s a handmade cedar coffee table, hymnbook artwork from a church hymnal, autumn wreaths and handcrafted Christmas decorations.”
The auction is fast paced.
“Who’ll give me $20,” Parker likely will say. “Twenty, twenty, who’ll give me twenty-five? Twenty-five, twenty-five, I have twenty-five, who’ll give me thirty?”
And the auction will really become interesting when Parker gets around to the homemade quilts and the cedar coffee table. The hymnbook artwork and the holiday wreaths, too.
I still have memories of some 30 years ago when Mama and I were at the Harvest Sale and seeing the white birdfeeder with the green roof.
“I’m going to buy that birdfeeder for you, Mama, and nobody is going to outbid me,” I promised. “I don’t care who attempts to outbid me, I want it for your front porch.”
Mama watched the birds feeding every morning for the remainder of her life.
‘The Threads We Each Sow’
“For Cypress Springs Presbyterian Church, the Harvest Sale has always meant more than tables of produce and crafts or the bustle of a busy fellowship hall,” Rev. Corrina Gambrell, who became the church’s pastor in 2024, said about the 72-year fundraiser. “Every year it reminds us how God’s people come together, both within the church and throughout the community, to acknowledge his provision. It shows how our church, in its own unique way, practices gratitude in our neighborhood and beyond.
“The Harvest Sale trains our hearts to see God as the very source of all we have. It gives us a moment to remember that everything we enjoy, everything we offer and everything we share comes from him.
“This year, we celebrate our 72nd annual Harvest Sale, and over the decades, it has become part of the tapestry of our church and community, a woven story of faith, fellowship and shared life. There are the hands that bake, craft, and create,” the pastor said. “There are families who donate produce from their gardens, teenagers who set up tables and carry boxes, and elders who greet visitors with warmth and wisdom. Every person adds a thread, a contribution that strengthens the whole. And at the center of it all, we see God’s faithfulness.”
The autumn harvest, Gambrell said, is a reflection of sowing, reaping, giving, receiving, serving, and celebrating at the little white church.
“It reminds us that community is not accidental, but it is cultivated,” Gambrell said. “It grows when we show up, work together and offer what we have. As we prepare once again, I pray we see the deeper meaning behind the tables, the produce, the crafts and the laughter. May we recognize the threads we each sew, and may we celebrate the tapestry God is weaving through us, one Harvest Sale, one act of service and one shared moment at a time.”
Epilogue
There’s just something about this annual fall rite, especially when twilight comes, and the lights illuminate the little white church, and you feel the autumn crispness in the air. It brings back those yesteryear memories of being with Mama, and still recalling the lilt in her laugh. Beyond the fried chicken and the apple cobbler and the auctioneer’s chant, there will be a moment in the cemetery to remind her the Harvest Sale is here again at this old church Mama held so dear for all of her life.
The Harvest Sale is a day for seeing familiar faces and fellowship. You’ll likely see folks like Terry and Diane Myers, Parks Blake, Stuart and Linda Taylor, Zannie and Brenda Smith, Mike Blue, Thom and Jan Dunning, Dale and Kerry Briggs, Wilma Johnson, Gary and Margaret Blue, and Daniel Brooks and Violet Stewart, both of whom have attended every Harvest Sale. And don’t be surprised if you see Cornelia Stewart, where this church has a special place in her heart.
And, so help me, the best fried chicken you’ll ever taste.
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
