Not many traditions make it to 85 years, but the annual St. Mary School Festival reaches that age this year. The 85th annual fund-raising event will be Saturday and Sunday on the school grounds at Bob Hall Road. The public is invited to play games, eat, listen to music, and buy items from booths.
Larry David, known for cooking hamburgers at the annual Lions Carnival, will be selling his burgers. But don’t look for him around noon. He and his classmates from St. Mary High School Class of 1963 will be eating their burgers in the cafeteria while they hold their 55th reunion.
David said he’s been to 73 of the festivals through the years. The first ones were held at the “old school” in the historic district on the campus of St. Mary Church on Cherry Avenue.
His favorite game was run by Neal Gauthier. A checkerboard design had numbers going from 5 to 7. A kid could toss a penny, a nickel, or even a dime. If a coin hit a number, the kid won that many times the coin. For instance, if a nickel hit the five, the winner received five nickels.
David said Mr. Gauthier had a “big window squeegee” he would use to swipe off the coins left on the board.
The high school moved to the Bob Hall Road location in 1958, but the festival stayed downtown because there wasn’t a gym or parking lot at the time. Eventually, the festival moved to Bob Hall.
St. Mary High School closed in 1970, but the school has remained in the years since, serving pre-kindergarten through eighth grades.
One of the most popular items sold at the St. Mary Festival is the confetti eggs. Families of students carefully blow out the insides of eggs for weeks to save the empty shells. The egg shells are filled with confetti and the ends taped closed. Kids love to break the eggs on their friends heads or throw them at each other.
David said he remembers first seeing the eggs when his children were in school during the early 1980s.
The festival will officially open Saturday morning. At 1 p.m., the Orange Blossom Dancers will perform, then there will be a school talent show at 2 p.m. Scott McGill and band will play at 4 p.m. St. Mary will have 6:30 p.m. Mass.
On Sunday, the festival will open at 11 a.m. with gospel music by Britt Godwin. Tiger Rock Martial Arts will have a demonstration at 1 p.m. Auctioneer Chad Jenkins will do the live auction at 4 p.m. and then prize drawings will be held.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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