This weekend Cathedral School will celebrate its 165th fall festival.

This is one of the country’s longest running festivals. The whole community is invited to come out and enjoy fun, fellowship, family and friends.

There is something for all to enjoy during this weekend. Cathedral’s homecoming and fall festival will, again, be on the same weekend.

Bring your children and grandchildren out from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to enjoy the midway games, cake walk, dunking booth, space walk, the brand new fire and ice slide and delicious foods on the playground. Inside the multi-purpose room, you can buy casseroles, scratch cakes, crafts, books and candy.

Raffle chances will be available for various prizes, including $5,000 in cash. The ever popular class baskets will also be available in the multi-purpose room along with class projects that will be up for silent auction until 2 p.m. Sunday. It seems every year the classes out-do themselves on these items. They are truly a sight to be seen.

Heritage Chrysler Jeep Dodge will be here again this year. Heritage sponsors the Dodge/Chrysler Drive for the Kids.

Several vehicles will be available for a short test drive around Center Drive. Each person taking a test drive is asked to fill out a short questionnaire. For each test drive, $10 will be donated to the school.

Saturday night the fun continues with adult paddle wheel night. From 3 to 5 p.m. plates of barbecue ribs and gumbo will be available for takeout. To pick up your dinner, just drive through Center Drive.

Beginning at 5 p.m., the ribs and gumbo will be served in the cafeteria, and at 7 p.m., the paddle auction will begin.

We have had many wonderful prizes donated from the very generous Miss-Lou businesses and individuals.

Some of the packages will include an LCD HD TV, hunting trips, home packages, spa trips, kids’ packages and restaurant packages. There will also be pre-sold paddles available for a $175 donation in case you are not able to attend adult night. Visit Cathedral’s website at www.cathedralgreenwave.com to see a more detailed listing of prizes available to win on Saturday night. We hope you will be able to come out and enjoy the fun at adult night.

Maybe you will be lucky enough to go home a winner.

The festival continues Sunday, bringing back the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. You can eat in the cafeteria or grab a takeout plate to bring home.

Dinner will be from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. Take-outs will be available in the high school gym. The prices of the dinners are $8 for adults and $5 for children.

The midway games, food, raffle items and other activities will continue on the elementary playground and in the multi-purpose room during the same hours.

Although midway ends at 2 p.m., the fun does not end. Bingo begins at 2 p.m. and continues until 4 p.m. The winners for all the raffle items will be drawn during bingo.

You do not have to be present to win the following prizes, $5,000 cash, a 42-inch HD Vizio flatscreen LCD TV, $500 in gasoline, Toshiba satellite laptop, Vera Bradley luggage, chest of linens, Apple iPad2 and basket of cheer.

At 4 p.m., we will close the doors on another successful and fun-filled fall festival weekend.

The Cathedral School community, parents, alumni, students, faculty and friends all work together to make the fall festival a success. It would not be possible without the generosity of the Miss-Lou businesses and individuals to enjoy the festival.

Fall festival allows Cathedral School to continue the mission of Catholic education begun in 1847 by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart and later by the Daughters of Charity.

My wife Amy and I, along with our co-chairmen Chris and Lee Hinson, would like to personally thank all those who have given so generously in time and support to this most worthy cause.

We invited the entire community to come out and enjoy the fun!

 

Jay Gamberi is a co-chairman of the Cathedral Fall Festival.