This weekend, Cathedral School will celebrate its 161st Fall Festival.

The whole community is invited to come out and enjoy fun, fellowship, family and friends. There is something for all to enjoy during the weekend.

Bring your children and grandchildren out from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to enjoy the midway games, cake walk, pony ride, dunking booth, double blow up slide and delicious foods on the elementary playground. Inside in the multi-purpose room you can buy homemade casseroles, scratch cakes, candy and crafts and books. Raffle chances will be available for various prizes including $2,500 in cash and a Bad Boy Buggies. The ever popular class theme baskets will also be available in the multi-purpose room. The baskets are available through a silent auction that begins Saturday and ends at 2 p.m. Sunday. The basket themes include: get in shape, perfect pouch, little girls room, techno Pak, team spirit and the grass is greener to name a few.

This year the seventh- and eighth-graders are competing to see who brings in the most money for their basket. The seventh-grade basket is Perk up the Patio; the eighth-grade basket will have a Super Bowl XLII football autographed by Eli Manning. It seems every year the classes out do themselves.

Heritage Chrysler Jeep Dodge joined the Fall Festival a couple of years ago with the Dodge drive for Kids. Several vehicles will be available for a short test drive. Each person taking a test drive will fill out a short questionnaire and $5 will be donated to Cathedral. Come out and see what Dodge has to offer.

Saturday night the fun continues with the adult paddle wheel night. Beginning at 3 p.m. and lasting until 6 p.m. plates of barbecue ribs and gumbo will be available for take out by driving through center drive. Beginning at 6 p.m. the dinners will be served in the cafeteria and at 7 p.m. the paddle wheel auction begins.

We have had many wonderful prizes donated from the very generous Miss-Lou businesses and individuals. Prize packages include a trip to Disney World, hunting trips, home makeover package, electronics, kids, teens and ladies packages to name a few. There are 21 wonderful packages to win.

Visit our Web site at www.cathedralschool.com to see a detailed listing of the packages available to win on Saturday night and come out and enjoy the fun.

You may also order your paddle online. The night concludes with the drawing for the Bad Boy Buggy.

The festival continues Sunday with the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, eat in or take out. Dinner will be available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the cafeteria. Take outs will be available in the high school gym.

Also at this time the midway games, foods and raffle items will continue on the elementary grounds and in the multi-purpose room. Bingo begins at 2 p.m. and lasts 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.

Raffle items include 26-inch LCD flat screen TV, Vera Bradley luggage, $1,000 savings bond, basket of cheer, Sony Vaio notebook PC, bed of linens, $800 gasoline, Apple iPod touch and $2,500 cash. At 4 p.m. the doors close on another successful and fun-filled Fall Festival weekend.

Fall Festival is our biggest fundraiser and all proceeds go exclusively to the support of the school.

Our success through the years is a result of the combined efforts and generosity of Cathedral School family and friends, local parishes, alumni and the Miss-Lou community.

Fall Festival allows Cathedral School to continue the mission began in 1847 by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart and later by the Daughters of Charity.

Barry and I with our co-chairmen Reagan and Emily White would like to thank all those who have given so generously in time and resources to this most worthy cause.

We invite the entire community to come out and enjoy the fun. For more information call 601-446-8527 or 601-597-0750.

Paige Iseminger and her husband Barry are this year’s chairpersons