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Made in the shade: Family at the heart of St. Patrick’s festival to support Catholic education

By Colette Costlow 4 min read

NEWRY -- Family runs deep at St. Patrick Catholic Church's annual Festival in the Shade.

To generate funds for St. Patrick School, the festival hosts live bands, basket raffles, food vendors, games and a flea market from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday and from 3 to 7 p.m. Sunday at 731 Patrick Lane.

While dishing up food and fun, family took center stage Friday night, with festival volunteers and attendees reflecting on their ancestors and descendants.

Volunteer Liz George remembers her parents working the popcorn booth. Her brother now runs that booth, while she's involved with the history table. Volunteers today continue to use her uncle's cotton candy machine.

"It's a family affair for a lot of us," she said.

There are a few students who are fifth or sixth in their family to attend St. Patrick School, according to Father Allen P. Zeth.

For 105 years, community members helped keep these family traditions alive, he said, with food vendors, craft shows and basket raffles.

Since restarting the festival in 1984, all proceeds go toward whatever the school needs, he said.

With those intentions in mind, festival chairperson Jean-Marie Walter developed the annual event's subtitle, "rooted in community and education," along with their logo about four years ago.

She said the community event is so much more than just a festival.

The logo depicts the "tree of life" for the families involved with the parish, she said, while tying in with the Sycamore trees located at the church's grove.

For visitors like Altoona residents Eric and Johanna Conrad, the festival brings back memories of their loved ones.

Eric's father used to enjoy playing Chuck-A-Luck, a dice game located at the other end of the festival. As he grew older, he enjoyed stopping by the event to see the crowds or find old friends.

Eric and Johanna's daughter also enjoyed playing Chuck-A-Luck with Eric's father, Johanna said, which is why their daughter plans on stopping by the festival sometime Saturday.

"She does that just because of him," Eric said.

Keeping up family traditions, they brought their 15-month-old grandchild, Jayden, to Friday's event in hopes of him enjoying himself. The couple also wanted to support the local church and school.

Eric said they wanted to "walk around and enjoy talking to people and hopefully run into friends."

New volunteers Barbara Williams and Krystle Hudson were found running the kids table Friday night to support their children's school.

With children entering kindergarten, both mothers chose St. Patrick School for its small class size and religious subjects.

"If there's a problem, they can hone in on it immediately if one of the kids is struggling or not," Hudson said.

They said it was important to support their school and community.

Community involvement drew Roaring Spring resident Randy Eckman into the festival, as he was found searching through books at the history table.

"I enjoy the nice environment and just a lot of fun things for young people to do," he said, noting it's also nice to get out into the community.

Along with visiting the festival, he and his wife enjoy purchasing their church's annual fish dinners.

He said he's impressed with the school's mission of praising God and keeping a positive attitude in the classrooms.

Some of those students, Mclane George, 11, and Harper Singer, 12, were contributing to their education by purchasing snow cones with their friends at a tent.

Singer enjoys swinging by the festival each year because it's a nice place to hang out with her friends outside of school.

"I feel like the workers are really nice," said former St. Patrick School student Emily Ramesh, 12.

The volunteers' work doesn't go unnoticed by the students, who said they understood how the event contributes to their continued education.

"I feel appreciated," Singer said.

Mirror Staff Writer Colette Costlow is at 814-946-7414.

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