Record 800 Adventurers and Family Members Fill Gaver Farm for Adventurer Fun Day

Mount Airy, Md. — A record 800 Adventurers and family members from 26 clubs across the Chesapeake Conference gathered at Gaver Farm in Mount Airy, Md., on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2026, for the conference’s annual Adventurer Fun Day, marking the event’s largest turnout to date.

Heavy rain threatened the outing just hours before families set out. “There was heavy rain just before we left for the event. We prayed the rain would lift, and by the time check-in started, there was a cool breeze but no rain,” said Sandy Thomas, Adventurer coordinator for the Chesapeake Conference. “We were a wonderful witness to the community in our club shirts with their uplifting slogans.”

The Chesapeake Conference Children’s Ministries department organized the outing to give Adventurer families a full day outdoors together. Children and their families explored the farm’s attractions, including giant slides, the Beeline zipline, pedal karts, jumping pillows, mini mazes, flying pigs, playgrounds, a 7-acre corn maze, hayrides, and barnyard animals.

Ann Reynolds, Children’s Ministries director for the Chesapeake Conference, credits the record attendance to the ministry’s steady growth. “Our Adventurer Club ministry has grown significantly in the past few years as families and church families pray, play, and worship together as one,” Reynolds said.

The Adventurer Club, a Seventh-day Adventist ministry for children in pre-K through fourth grade, centers on families and encourages parents and children to grow in faith together. Adventurer Fun Day continues a Chesapeake Conference tradition of family outings, which in 2024 brought Adventurers to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C.