by Cori Hilsgen
news@thenewsleaders.com
St. Joseph residents are getting ready for the Joetown Rocks celebration. The annual Church of St. Joseph Parish Festival has grown into a large celebration, drawing a crowd of an estimated 18,000 people last year.
Sandy Scholz, Church of St. Joseph business manager, commented on the upcoming events.
“Joetown Rocks will be an amazing event this year with great music, superb food and lots of fun,” Scholz said. “We are excited to be using our new parish center this year for the Handiwork and Craft Stand, Country Store and the Candy Stand. It will be a wonderful space to showcase the fantastic items for sale crafted by our talented parishioners. We are also delighted to have two young parishioners, Katie John Heinen and Logan Mehr, members of the music group KJ and the Graduates, kicking off the Joetown stage at 6 p.m.”
This year’s concert on Thursday, July 3 begins at 6 p.m. Musical performers include KJ and the Graduates; Jeremiah James Korfe; Rumours and Dreams, A Fleetwood Mac Tribute, featuring Pamela McNeill, Mary Jane Alm and Jeff Engholm; and The Shalo Lee Band. Evening fireworks are planned at 10:15 p.m. that night.
The July 4 events include a Mass, the annual 10 a.m. St. Joseph Lions Club parade, music by the Smok’n Guns band, a quilt auction and raffle drawing. Lions Club member Jim Kuebelbeck is this year’s grand marshal and is being recognized for his 50 years of service to the area.
Quilter Delrose Fischer said this year’s 2 p.m. quilt auction includes 19 queen-size quilts, a wall hanging and 17 baby quilts. The signature quilt for this year’s auction is a Collector Cars quilt and a wall hanging.
Fischer visited various vintage car owners to photograph cars for the quilt and wall hanging. The quilt is 84-by-97 inches, and the wall hanging is 55-by-68 inches. The quilt will be displayed in the parade, and vintage cars will travel with it.
The two-day celebration is a fundraiser for the church. It offers a variety of food, beverages and activities. Some of those include the Joe Burger stand, beer stand, Mexican food stand, bingo, the train ride, straw stand, youth games, ring toss, cake walk, the Country Store, Handiwork and Craft stand and more.
Many volunteers have been working before and many will work during and after the festival to create a successful event.
“The parish receives tremendous support from the entire community for the Joetown Rocks Festival and we hope the entire community benefits from it as well,” Scholz said. “We thank everyone for their support and hope you enjoy the festival.”
The celebration begins at 5 p.m. on Thursday and ends on Friday afternoon with a raffle drawing. For more information, visit www.joetownrocks.org.
contributed photo
This year’s signature quilt for the quilt auction is a Collector Cars quilt and wall hanging.
contributed photo
This year’s quilt auction will include 19 queen-sized quilts and 17 baby quilts, such as this one.