Ken Kruse, who has been a co-chair of the Parish Festival for approximately 28 years, during Sunday’s St. Anthony of Padua Annual Parish Festival in Columbus Grove.
Richard Parrish | The Lima News
COLUMBUS GROVE — Parishioners and festival attendees this weekend at the two-day St. Anthony Parish Summer Festival enjoyed new rides and a festival debut musical performance this year.
The change of carnival ride vendors occurred because the previous company could not find enough workers due to COVID, said Ken Kruse, who has been a co-chair of the event for approximately 28 years and serves on the church’s finance committee.
“Being a small social, you can’t get some of the large rides like at the fairs. We had to find ways to do something for the kids,” said Kruse.
Truck Stop Manners could not make it this year, so this year is also the parish debut for a 1960s and 1970s music performance by Two Groovy from 8 to 10 p.m.
On Saturday, other events ran from 5 p.m. to around 10 p.m. and included a 5K run that started at 7 p.m. at the school.
Approximately 450 $10 BBQ rib, BBQ chicken, and BBQ pork chop dinners were prepared and sold starting at 5 p.m., and when those sold out, the hamburger tent opened, Kruse said. The dinners came with baked potato, applesauce and a roll.
The festival resumed Sunday, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and activities included duck races, kids’ games, a ten-cent bakery wheel, garage sale, country store and crafts, quarter bingo where winners take home a gift (as opposed to cash).
“The duck races go on all day in the beer tent. People place their bets on 8 or 9 ducklings that run in each race. Then the odds are figured up on the computer for what the payout is. The little ducklings run a track up in the air that is made of vented plexiglass. You can see the ducks go in. They close ‘em up, and then they see the other end and that’s where they run, and then they are taken out after each race,” said Kruse.
Sunday’s $12 dine-in or carry-out home-cooked meal included chicken and beef dinners with all the fixings (mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing, noodles, coleslaw and a roll).
“The whole social is run by parishioners, and that’s what makes it special. Not too many parish festivals are run like this anymore,” Kruse said. “There are 400 to 500 workers scheduled for the weekend. It basically takes the whole parish to do it.”
As far as parishioners’ donations, “the country store is very popular and the utility shed is filled with donated items for the garage sale,” Kruse said.
In terms of the turnout, Kruse said, “the whole town basically supports us for a day.”
In addition to drawing residents from other towns and parishes within a two-county radius, the festival also brought friends and family together from distant points around the country.
“This is the fourth year we have friends from California that come out just for the weekend,” Kruse said. “They are totally amazed at what goes on here. They say you can stand and talk to anybody. You know everybody at the social. They are from California, and they said they hardly know their next-door neighbors. So, they just come out and they just have the best time,” Kruse said.
“It’s an old tradition. I hope to help keep it going for a while,” said Kruse.
The roughly century-old Catholic parish festival tradition serves as a fundraiser to help support St. Anthony parish, fund its teacher’s salaries, and helps keep tuition low for enrolled elementary school students.
Additional donations may be made at St. Anthony of Padua Parish, 512 W. Sycamore St., Columbus Grove.
Reach Shannon Bohle at 567-242-0399, by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @Bohle_LimaNews.
