Bulletin for April 22

Dear friends in Christ,

By this time next week our 33rd annual CtR Spring Festival will be in full-swing. Those of you who have been previously know well what a great weekend it is – truly a community event. And if you’ve never been before then you are in for a real treat! Our chairpersons Mike and Camille Havelka and their dedicated core committee of volunteers have been hard at work preparing for a great weekend. Let’s review some important information that you will want to keep handy.

The tents will begin to go up tomorrow, Monday, April 23, in the front parking lot. It will be a great help if you would please use the entrance near the traffic light when coming to the campus this week. One area we will need help on each night this week is with the associated tasks of getting the booths set-up. I ask you to please consider stopping by anytime between 5-8 p.m. to lend a hand to Mike Havelka with the set-up. There's some light rigging that needs to take place, and if you can lend a hand, it would be a great help. You'll find Mike under the tents each evening, so find him and he'll put you to work. 

At the 11 a.m. Mass next Sunday we will have an extra officer directing traffic, and we will use the normal exit as an entrance this one day only to help the flow for that particular Mass. That driveway will be reduced to one lane this week to make room for the barbecue pits, dumpsters, and other support vehicles. Drive slowly and obey the posted signs.

To make it even easier, we will have a free shuttle service next Saturday night and all day Sunday. The shuttle will run round-trip from Millsap Elementary School (about 1/4 mile north of the parish on Huffmeister, just past Cypress-N. Houston Drive) on Saturday from 4:30 p.m. to 12 midnight and again on Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Also on Sunday we’ll have an extra shuttle running round-trip to Hunting Specialties, just off the corner of Huffmeister and Cypress-N. Houston. You can take the shuttle to Mass and stay for the festival. I highly encourage you to take the shuttle. It will save you time and aggravation. 

You can begin dropping off donations this week beginning today, Sunday, in the Community Center and continuing throughout the week. This is most important for the flea market items that you wish to donate. Clean out the garage and bring your unwanted items to donate to the church. This would make an excellent post-Mass family activity this afternoon. The flea market has become one of our biggest events of the Festival the past few years with plenty of bargains. Bring us your items throughout the week, and consider stopping by to help each day with the sorting and pricing of all the donations.

You can also start bringing your items for the auction. We definitely need your items for this most important part of the Festival. As usual we will have both a live and silent auction, and our crew will help you determine which is best for your items. In general the live auction is for our bigger, higher dollar items. Remember we also take cash donations for the auction so that we might buy items to put up for auction. Auction chairpersons Tony and Beckie Croes can answer your questions.

This weekend is the last chance for pre-sale, discounted tickets. Stop by the booth in the Parish Hall to get your tickets for all the rides, games and booths. The T-shirts are mighty fine, too, and the most popular sizes are moving fast so get yours today. You can also get barbecue dinner tickets in advance and that’s always a good idea. Remember the dinner is served only on Sunday from 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. It’s one of the oldest traditions at the Festival and everything is made with love. Don’t miss it!

In fact, barbecue prep is one area in particular we could use extra help this coming week. We need help seasoning on Thursday evening beginning at 5:30 p.m., and then on Saturday, from 3:30 - 7:30 p.m. and Sunday (all day) we have open time slots in two hour shifts. This is a great way to get involved with slicing, chopping and serving. Sign up for this or any volunteer spot on the website.
 
Beginning on Saturday morning you can bring your donations of flowers and greenery for the plant shop, as well as cakes, cookies and goodies for the sweet shoppe bake sale. A special note to all you bakers: we always run short on cakes for the cakewalk booth. If you can bake an extra sheetcake or two (doesn’t have to be fancy, just tasty!) please bring them for us to give away. Or make a batch of cookies or treats for the sweet shoppe. The popular mystery booth, wherein you can win gift cards to various stores and restaurants, is in need of your donations. Pick up a gift card or two to a favorite place (in any denomination). If it’s a place you like to go (think Starbucks, Sonic, Whataburger, etc.), it’s a safe bet it would make for a good mystery booth gift card. Drop those off in the office and they’ll make for a most excellent prize. 

On Saturday evening the place starts hopping after the 5 p.m. Mass with some of the food court open, beer and wine booths, flea market and a few of the rides. We always have a great band with a packed dance floor so come enjoy a great night. It’s a wonderful evening and sets the stage nicely for all the family fun the next day. 

Here’s something new I’m really looking forward to this year. We’re offering a special item on Saturday night – a wine pull from Fr. Sean’s Cellar. That’s right – I’m donating more than 100 bottles of wine from my collection. I’ve got far too much wine than I can drink, and I’m making it available to you. In the wine pull, you choose a donation level – $50, $75, or $100 –and then pull a bottle from the corresponding level. These are some amazing wines that I’d love to drink (I bought them for a reason, after all), but it’s time for me to down-size my collection. It’s my gift back to the parish, and with your donation, you’ll be making a gift, too. It’s a win-win situation, or maybe I should say a wine-wine situation! Pick a bottle and I’ll tell you the story behind it. These are all red wines of various styles, many from some of my favorite vineyards and wineries in Washington State. It’s going to be a fun part of the evening, so come pull a bottle or two! 

Next Sunday gets going with the aforementioned barbecue dinner beginning at 11 a.m. and then everything – all the rides, games, food booths, flea market, plant booth and everything else – is up and running by 12 noon and continues until 7 p.m. Remember there is no 5 p.m. Mass next Sunday!

Of course the last event of the Festival is the grand prize drawing for our raffle. We’re giving away a new Honda, but you cannot win if you do not play. I’m often asked how to support the Festival if you can’t attend. The easiest and best way is to buy raffle tickets. This is really a big portion of our whole event, so please buy a book or two and encourage others to do the same. Finally, please allot time after 7:01 p.m. to assist with the breakdown of the game booths. There is much work to do, but we have a good system in place. Just need some of your man (and woman) power at that time. And on Monday morning post-festival, for those free from work that day, we can use help with returning items to our sheds.

Spread the word to your family and friends and pray for good weather. I’ll see ya’ at the Festival!

Peace, Fr. Sean