Parish Fete 2018!

Was it a success? Hard to say "financially" yet, as the numbers are still coming in. However, it was successful as a parish event. Several people came up to me and thanked me for putting it on as it had been several years since they had seen such a Fete (what we'd call a "festival"). They were impressed how it brought people together.

We held it at our offsite primary school, St. Angela's, which is about a five minute drive from the parish church. And that was good, in terms of location and grounds. We had lots more space. We also had a large, covered, open area that we used for the performances and a big school hall for the international food stalls and dining tables.

Throughout the week, we'd had rain and storms, with a rainy forecast for Saturday, 20 October, the date for the Fete (pronounced like the word "fate"). These are shots from earlier in the week, of a rainbow after a massive storm flew by the friary (1-5). For Saturday, forecasters predicted storms. I was praying really hard that the weather forecast was wrong. Thunderstorms were especially predicted from 5 PM on.

But the day was very nice. Sunny for most of it, contrary to the forecast. And warm, about 85 degrees. Perfect for selling drinks! The Fete opened at 10 am and was to last until 8 PM, when it was dark enough for a fireworks show. Here are shots of the largest jumping castle I've ever seen (6); our plant stall (7); used book stall (8); the "White Elephant" (a rummage or tag sale of used items (9); a game booth (10); a couple of our youth group members performing a duet (11); some vendors and their tents (12); the chocolate wheel (a "spin the wheel and win a prize" game—sadly no chocolate involved; 13-14); and our youth group selling drinks (15).

Unfortunately, we had fireworks before 8 pm, with lightning and thunder and gale force winds! It was something. People were stuck under their tents due to the heavy rain. Others just walked around like ducks getting wet. You can see the down pour in these pictures (16-17). The rain came quick and most went fleeing for cover!

A lot of people gave us a lot of junk for the White Elephant! Amazingly a lot of people bought a lot of junk, too. But the area for the White Elephant wasn’t really covered. And when the rain came, everything got wet. Four pickups full of junk in soggy boxes! We had three extra dumpsters along with the one that belong to the school. We filled three extra dumpsters along with the one that belong to the school! (Ugh!) And there was still stuff that we couldn’t throw away because the dumpsters were so full! But that was later…

Thankfully, the rain abated about 7 o’clock. Most had packed into the hall or just plain left during the storm. We tried to keep going with the performances inside. It was interesting to watch the crowd and their reactions.

We had the most beautiful sunset of pastel colors (18-21). It felt surreal! So calm and pretty after the violent wind storm that left everything ruined. We were able to have a really nice 10 minutes fireworks show, though we only paid for 5 minute's worth. I think the fellow felt sorry for us or was just glad to be able to do his show. These photos do not do it justice (22-30).

Afterwards, some helped clean up. I celebrated Mass for the remnant at about 9 PM, after that we cleaned up most of the stuff. Mostly it was White Elephant garbage. And then I continued working with a small group of people and their 2 utility vehicles making several trips back to the parish with books and equipment. I went to bed about 12.30 am!

I don’t think we’re ever going to do a Fete again.. Though it brings people together, it's way too much work, with not enough help. Soo, the chairperson, is a real trooper! She did lots with organizing and coordinating. Here she is pictured at right with another lady, Katherine, who knit all our tea cozy’s for the Fete (31).

Update on my dog Joey: he is now settled in his new home, living with his “aunt” Abby. He is now in Peoria living with Michael‘s mother, Jackie, and seems to be doing fine. (Here are some shots of Joey left with Abby 32 and me taking both dogs for a walk with a short run at the end, 33). He seems happy, though like all of us, I'm sure he misses Michael.