The Ball, soccer’s equivalent to the Olympic Torch, will start its journey toward the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup on July 10 in London. A nonprofit organization called “The Spirit of Football” is the custodian of the Ball as it makes its journey around the world, and in mid-September, that journey will bring the Ball to Mercersburg Academy. In conjunction with this visit, Mercersburg will resume hosting the annual Nancy Horton Heefner Memorial Art Show, a non-juried art exhibition, from September 1 to October 1. Local artists–students, faculty, staff, and community members–are invited to submit artwork. 

“The altruistic vision of the Spirit of Football (and founder Andrew Aris) to collaborate, connect, and value every being worldwide with the Ball is a brilliant encapsulation of idyllic beauty and much needed harmony,” says Syd Caretti P '24, '26, Mercersburg arts faculty and director of galleries. “Mercersburg and anyone who would like to be involved is welcome to join the mission: One Ball, One World!”

The Ball’s final stop on its worldwide journey will be the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, to be held in July and August 2023 in Australia and New Zealand. 

The theme of this year’s Heefner Art Show is “One Ball, One World,” inspired by The Spirit of Football and its initiative to harmonize the world with respect and teamwork and to bring attention to the climate crisis, gender equality, and the war in Ukraine. Learn more about the Ball. 

Those interested in submitting to the art exhibit can contact Caretti by email or call 717-328-6206. Entry forms are also available for pickup at the Fendrick Library in Mercersburg and the Lilian S. Besore Memorial Library in Greencastle.

Entries may be dropped off Sunday, August 28, or Monday, August 29, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Burgin Center for the Arts’ Cofrin Gallery.

This fall’s event will mark the first time since 2019 for the art show to be held in person. The exhibit is a collaboration between the Academy and the Mercersburg Historical Society. 

Heefner, a teacher, artist, and author, taught art history, drawing, and ceramics at the Academy for 22 years and was head of the art department for seven years, retiring in 1994. She attended McConnellsburg High School and graduated from Fairfax Hall in Waynesboro, VA. Heefner earned a degree in fine arts from Wilson College and did postgraduate work at Alfred University in New York and San Francisco State University. She passed away in 2001.

Her husband, Tom ’57, is a Mercersburg alumnus and a former member of the school’s Alumni Council.