SUNDAY BLUE LAWS

The market place is empty. No more traffic in the streets. All the stores are closed and locked up tight. There is no chance to purchase anything. It’s an eerie feeling on a bright and sunny Sunday morning in Northern Indiana. The town is deserted. What has happened, you ask?

Years ago there was a body of laws created in Colonial New England that were designed to enforce moral standards and particularly to prohibit specified forms of entertainment or recreation on Sunday. It was also designed to regulate commercial business on Sunday. These laws were called the Sunday Blue Law because they were written on blue paper. They have long passed from the law books, little by little.

You know it’s Sunday in Shipshewana, Indiana, where the spirit of these laws is still practiced because the county of LaGrange is 60% Amish and Mennonite. Because of this strong religious presence every store and eating place (except one pizza place and one service station) closes all day on Sunday.

Walk down Main Street– it’s highway 5– and you will not see one car parked in front of commercial establishments. In fact, very few cars will be on the highway driving through.

The folks of this 500 person town all respect the sacredness of the Lord’s Day so all businesses are closed. They like it this way.

As you are sitting in the comfort of a park bench under the shade of the sycamore tree, you often see an Amish horse and buggy traveling late in the day returning home from an all day church service held in home of an Amish. In addition to the birds singing, the “clip-clop. clip-clop” of the horses is about all you will hear. It’s quiet. It’s nice. Come with me to the “yesteryear” and enjoy the peaceful and quiet result of the Sunday Blue law.

And, that's the way it is. So long till another time when we once again explore life in a small town where the Amish and the Mennonites live.

Don and Marilyn, writing from our second story apartment overlooking the beautiful grounds of the world famous MENNOHOF Interpretative Center. Summer is here and the crowds are coming. Yesterday we had over 200 people. People come from all over the world: Reedley, CA, Clovis, CA, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Russia, England and on and on. In June we had 3,750 people visit MennoHof