Riverdale, Festival of the Holy Spirit.
LeFever traveled along with pastor / writer Brian Nixon and his son Isaiah to Riverdale California for the Portuguese Bull on a Rope event. These photos were taken at the even in support of the article. The following are out takes from the ASSIT News article written by Nixon.

"On a beautiful Saturday evening, in a small central valley, California town, surrounded by beautiful cornfields, dairy ranches, and a half-lit moon, one of the most unusual, yet fascinating Azorean/Portuguese traditions took place: Festa Espirto Santo- The Celebration of the Holy Spirit.

According to F.M. Dias, one of the elder statesmen at the Festa, Queen Elizabeth of Portugal (b.1291- d.1336) began the celebration. Elizabeth was a pious woman, making prayer and fasting an intricate part of her day. She married the poet, Diniz, King of Portugal. Together they had two children."

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" Whether or not there is a link to Elizabeth, I am not sure. Yet, historically, the event was a festival for the elderly and poor, allowing royalty and the community to provide for those less fortunate and give some entertainment to them- the bullfight

Because the Holy Spirit is the guest of the festival, and is given freely to all those who believe in Christ, everything at the festival is free: Sopas (meat, cabbage, and Portuguese bread), Linguisa, and Portuguese ribs. Chef, Luis Pereira, explains that the pork is marinated in veititos. I never figured out what exactly that was, but it was sure good!

The heart of the festival is the bullfight, to be exact-Tourda-a-Corda (Bull on a Rope). Now when I say bullfight, I do not mean spears, blood, and a Matador. Rather, it is a street fight, with a professional street fighter (toureiros) controlling the bulls. Four to six men, wearing bolero hats and white shirts, harness the bull with ropes.

In Portugal, the tradition is called the pega, where men (Forcados) are dressed in a traditional costume of velvet, with long knit hats as worn by the celebrated Ribatejo campinos (bull headers)."

For LeFever the adventure became more real when shooting another photographer being charged put him right in line with the charging bull. Turning to run from the bull resulted in LeFever making a five foot jump to the top of the wall of hay bails lining the street and into the laps of the audience. In fact, this was the story to tell highlight of the event. Fortunately no one was hurt.