by Dennis Dalman
Dancing to live bands, ham and chicken dinners, raffles, auctions and face-painting and train rides for the kids are just some of the activities set for the annual St. Stephen Parish Festival on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 6.
At the rain-or-shine event, the bands performing will be JJ’s Band and Laverne & the Starlights.
The festivities will begin right after the 8 a.m. Mass at St. Stephen Catholic Church, presided over by the Rev. Ron Weyrens, the parish’s pastor.
There will be inside events and outside booths to enjoy throughout the day. The following is a line-up of activities:
For children:
From noon to 4 p.m. there will be face-painting, bingo, train rides. A peddle tractor pull will start at 1 p.m. with advanced registration for that activity starting at 12:30 p.m.
Inside:
Throughout the day, inside hall events include bingo and a dice game, the “Country Store” and a bake sale.
Outdoors:
The booths outdoors on the church grounds will include a goat raffle, a stand showing off quilts up for auction, servings of bouja; a cake walk; a stand serving hamburger, hot dogs and French fries; another booth serving “Tacos in a Bag;” a beer garden; pull tabs; a silent auction and plenty of treats and beverages. A farmers’ market will open at 10 am. and “Granny’s Attic” (a garage-type sale with free-will offering) will begin at 10:30 a.m.
Grand raffle:
The winner of the grand raffle for $1,600 in cash will be announced at 5:30 p.m.
Quilt auction:
The quilt auction featuring homemade quilts will start at 2 p.m., with a pre-sale of quilts until 1:30 p.m. Another auction, dubbed “Country Auction,” will start at 1 p.m. on the church grounds.
Music, dancing:
JJ’s Band will perform from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., with Laverne & the Starlights set to play from 2-7 p.m., with a break at 5:30 p.m. for the raffle announcement.
All-day dinners:
Homemade ham-and-chicken dinners with all the trimmings and homemade pies will be served, for eating inside or outside, starting at 11 a.m. Children under 3 can eat free dinners.
Three siblings use sticks to clank out a rhythm on empty jars bought by their parents at the St. Stephen Catholic Parish Labor Day Fest in 2018. The children are (left to right) Brad, Lucy and Joe. They are the children of Amanda and Patrick Schulte of Avon.
Judy Molitor of Sartell puts fixin’s on her hamburger at the St. Stephen Catholic Parish Labor Day Festival Sept. 3, 2018. For many years, Molitor was a member of the Sartell City Hall staff until she retired a few years ago.
Occasional shouts of “Bingo!” could be heard at the parish hall during the St. Stephen Catholic Parish Labor Day Festival Sept. 3, 2018. Thousands of people attended the annual event, which featured games, an auction, music, food, a used-items sale and lots more.
