It took a “joint effort” from both St. Mary’s Catholic School and St. Mary’s Assumption Church to pull off its 89th annual festival.
The St. Mary’s Catholic Community Fall Festival Homecoming Celebration was held at the church and school grounds Sunday, Sept. 10. Proceeds from the event went to both the school and the church.
Tessa Streit, St. Mary’s Catholic School’s development and marketing director and organizer of the festival, said the school and church consider itself as one entity.
“We thrive off each other and give back to each other,” Streit said. “This festival is always a way for everybody to come together and work together.”
Spread throughout the entire campus, the festival had games, live music, auctions, concessions and a raffle drawing.
One of the most popular features was the dunking booth, where five staff and faculty members volunteered to have water dropped on them.
While Streit does not have an official count yet as far as attendance, she estimates that around 1,000 people attended the festival. Streit described the festival’s atmosphere as one filled with joy.
“I think everybody was really enjoying themselves,” Streit said. “There were people dancing and it was a wonderful festival atmosphere.”
The festival has grown considerably since its beginning stages nearly 90 years ago. It originally was held at Wilson H. Fox park, then moved to Murphy Park and then switched to the Knights of Columbus Hall for about 12 years until the event required a larger setting.
The event was changed this year from just the Fall Festival to its current name to incorporate the return of Homecoming events at St. Mary’s.
The church received major reconstruction and was rededicated in 2021, something Streit says some alumni and former parishioners have still not seen yet.
“We were wanting to bring (the festival) back home to our campus,” Streit said. “We wanted to let people have the opportunity, especially alumni and people that had been parishioners before, to see the campus and how things have grown and changed with the church and the school.”
Streit said Moppy Miller, and her husband Mickey, helped her with logistics for the festival on the parish side.
