St. Pat's Fall Festival Right Around the Corner

Didn't get your community festival fix at Inver Grove Heights Days? Don't worry, another large community gathering is right around the corner.

Hundreds of people are expected to turn out at the Fall Festival, which runs from Sept. 16 through Sept. 18 and includes a rummage sale, wine and beer tasting, car show, taco dinner and a handful of other events over the course of the weekend.

The extensive event has come a long way from its roots 20 years ago as an all-night pork roast for parishioners, according to Fall Festival Commitee Chair Mike Regan. In those days, the church cooked several whole pigs in 200-gallon oil tanks converted into improvised pork roasters. Regan and others would start cooking the hogs on a Saturday evening, and stayed up until the wee hours on Sunday morning to make sure the pigs were properly slow roasted.

Now, the festival organizers cook 180 pounds of pork loin every festival weekend, rather than whole hogs, and more than 1,000 people are expected to attend the event.

"It started out as a social event to build community as a parish, and then after a couple of years of that, we added kids games and outdoor activities," Regan said. “Over the years, it has grown."

This year, the festival will include old standbys like the Bottle Shop—a makeshift store where attendees can purchase food and other odds and ends, all of which has been bottled into glass jars. But the organizers have also added several new dimensions to the event, including pizza by the slice and a pasta bar for more dining options, and a mobile video game truck and inflatable "human hamster balls."

The purpose of the event is two-fold, Regan and fellow organizer Denise Stoffel said. The Fall Festival serves as a fundraiser for the church, which uses the money it generates through the event to fund church maintenance and support its youth programs, among other uses. But the Fall Festival, which is open to parishioners and the wider community, also helps reconnect people with their friends and neighbors.

"Not only is it obviously important from the fundraising aspect, it is  huge opportunity to gather as a community," Stoffel said. "People get into a routine, they go to the same mass, they see the same people. But at the fall festival, you get to see everyone."

"It does build community, and I think that’s something we need in Inver Grove Heights," Regan said.

For more information regarding the Fall Festival, check out the schedule below or visit http://www.churchofstpatrick.com/.

Fall Festival Schedule*

Friday, Sept. 16

• Attic Treasures Rummage Sale; 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Wine and beer tasting with live entertainment; 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 17

• Mass, 4 p.m.
• Taco dinner and silent auction; 5 p.m.
• Bingo; 6:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Sunday, Sept. 18

• Sunday's activities begin at 11 a.m. and include:
  —Kids games
  —Beer tent
  —Bingo and pull tabs
  —Roast pork dinner
  —The Bottle Shop
  —Country Store
  —Cookie and bar walk
• 13th Annual Classic Motor Show, noon to 5 p.m., with an awards ceremony at 4 p.m.

*All events take place at the Church of St. Patrick, 3535 72nd Street East.