The annual St. Rose Festival, which started Saturday night, is well-known for its grilled chicken wings. The event continues with a family-friendly day from noon to 8 p.m. at St. Rose Catholic Church, 523 N. West St., Lima. Prudence and Hambone will perform during family day.
Tyler Deitsch | For The Lima News
LIMA — For more than 20 years, St. Rose Parish has hosted a festival for the benefit of the elementary school and the church. This weekend’s event brought together several generations of families, parish members and St. Rose School alums for a clear and cool end-of-spring day.
Saturday was the adults-only day of the festival. It’s a great time for members of the community to relax with great music, food and connect with other alums from the school.
St. Rose School Principal Donna Judy explained that the parish festival “brings the faith and community together.”
It takes the whole community to bring an event like this together. Families with children in the school sell raffle tickets, the different music groups bring their fans, and generations of families pass down the responsibility of different elements of the festival to their children.
Local business Kat and Bailey’s, a new café, bakery, catering and event space on Shawnee Road in Lima, had a tent and table near the front entrance of the festival. This is their first year attending as a business. However, as parents of children attending the school, they’ve volunteered in previous years to help with the event.
Bailey Page, one of the co-owners, explained that they were excited to be participating in the festival as they launch their new brick-and-mortar space. They expected it to be a busy weekend.
The Links have been participating in St. Rose Parish activities for more than 70 years. St. Rose School Athletic Director Mark Link coordinated the festival for 10 years before passing it on to Mary Paton. His family has helped oversee the barbecue with their locally famous chicken wings. He explained that the recipe is simple, but perhaps a family secret brings people from beyond the St. Rose Parish community to enjoy them.
The barbecue is run by his sons, Joe and Michael Link, now. They are in their 30s and also attended St. Rose School, just like their father did. The line of families participating in the festival shows a strong community.
The musical entertainment for the evening was provided by Liam Stolly and Brother Believe Me. Stolly is a local musician and an alum of St. Gerard School, as well as a country musician making waves in Nashville. He’s participated in the event before and was in town for this weekend’s festival and gladly joined the docket.
Brother Believe Me is a fan-favorite band that plays a variety of styles, particularly rock. Paton said that they attract their own fans to the festival for their performances, which helps in the fundraising.
Paton has been coordinating the festival for almost 20 years. She is a parishioner, works in the school, and her children also attended St. Rose School. Since the COVID pandemic began in 2020, this is her second year leading the festival and the first with great weather, as it rained last year.
Paton explained that rain or shine the event continues: “People stay in the tents where we have the food, music and entertainment.”
“This is the first local festival, and because of the timing families and kids from the school help out with selling raffle tickets or running different booths. As a smaller parish and festival, we really launch the local summer festival season by having it at this time of year,” Paton explained.
The second day of the festival at St. Rose Parish, 523 N. West St., Lima, is their family-friendly day on Sunday.
