July 3, 2007

Another successful festival for St. Christopher

Three-day fete provides fun, bargains

By Carol Rosen
Editor

Crowds filled St. Christopher’s parking lot for the 49th annual three-day festival, breaking records from previous years. At least 15,000 parishioners and residents spent time at the yearly fundraiser, which is just a bit different each year.

The festival is a fundraiser for St. Christopher School’s sports program. The food, rides, games, raffles and rummage sales combine to provide physical education for all the students, and help provide uniforms and instruction for boys’ football and basketball, girls’ volleyball and field hockey among other sports.

About 600 people volunteered to help make this year’s fete a success, said chair Dave Wieber, who with co-chair John Bovone sit on the board that provides guidance for the school sports program. Bovone will chair next year’s festival.

“We were a good team,” said Wieber. “We counterbalanced each others strength’s and weaknesses. The money we take in helps to fund the school sports program for all of our kindergarten through eighth grade students including all hired and volunteer help, uniforms and other essentials in the sports program.” Those sports including flag football, basketball, field hockey, track and volleyball.

Like all the other festivals, this year’s was slightly different. Instead of the rock-climbing wall, those attending were greeted by a European bungee jump, which had a small line of people waiting to try its antics all three days. In addition, on Saturday night track lights lit up the neighborhood skies enticing people to come hear and dance to St. Christopher’s own parishioners, B.P. Band. The Hitmen entertained on Friday night.

About 12,000 to 15,000 attended throughout the three days—Friday from 5- to 10 p.m.; Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wieber said, which is 3,000 to 5,000 more than usual. What started out to be a parish function has now turned into more of a community function with locals, who sometimes don’t belong to the church, volunteering their time to help make the festival a success.

This year’s was slightly different from other years. Instead of a rock-climbing wall, those attending were greeted by a European bungee jump, which had a small line of people waiting to try its antics all three days.

It takes about 600 volunteers to make the festival work smoothly. Planning begins in November, and kicks into high gear around February, said Wieber. There are about 40 to 60 different coordinators who pick a booth or area to run and coordinate all the activities including volunteers to work the booth for the entire three days. Besides the volunteers, there are a number of generous sponsors that help each year. This year more than 100 helped sponsor the event.

While there are games, food—the barbeque is fabulous—fun and raffles in the parking area, the two small gyms in the front of the church house a rummage sale. One gym contains clothing and accessories, while the other features art works, furniture, knick-knacks, toys and other paraphernalia. There are some real bargains, whether you come early or late, and prices tend lower during the late Sunday afternoon.

Now that this year’s festival is over, everyone is looking forward to next year’s 50th anniversary festival!