LIMA — The 39th annual St. Gerard Festival was in full swing at 6 p.m. Saturday at the St. Gerard Parish grounds at 240 W. Robb Ave., with fun and entertainment for everyone from young children to adults.
The venue was packed with carnival rides and games from spinning swings to ring tosses, complete with goldfish prizes.
The band Never Again was rocking out with classic covers, the cake wheel and other games of chance were attracting customers, and the aroma of funnel cakes and grilled chicken was enticing the hungry to the ever-present selection of food. And not be overlooked were St. Gerard’s Famous Chicken Wings. The wait was long but the line was well behaved — even after Father Jim Szobonya, pastor at the parish, came by and jokingly told them they were out of chicken wings. 4,600 pounds of chicken. as of last year at same time only used 4000 pounds
Szobonya said the festival began with just one tent 39 years ago and has turned into a huge event.
“The parishioners do a lot of hard work,” he said.
The event is planned and executed by church members and members of the community who are not even Catholic, Szobonya explained.
“I’m just their cheerleader,” he said.
The St. Gerard Festival has become such a major event families who have moved from the community will come back just to attend, he said. College students who are coming home for the summer will meet up with their friends at the festival to kick their summer off.
“One of the things I’ll say is to pull something big like this off takes a lot of people working together,” Szobonya said. “That’s not only true for festivals like this but for everything.”
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