By Larissa Dudkiewicz
Live music, ethnic foods, games and activities will be aplenty when the 19th annual Good Samaritan Parish Festival runs Thursday through Sunday.
Live music, ethnic foods, games and activities will be aplenty when the 19th annual Good Samaritan Parish Festival runs Thursday through Sunday.
The Rev. Joseph Carr, pastor, said Good Samaritan is also celebrating its 20th anniversary this year as a parish.
Good Samaritan was formed from five parishes that merged in 1994. St. Veronica's, the "territorial" parish, joined with the four ethnic-based ones: Christ the King was Italian, Divine Redeemer was Slovak, Holy Trinity was Croatian, and St. Stanislaus was Polish.
The four-day festival at Eighth Street and Melrose Avenue incorporates that history and ethnic diversity.
"The first year we didn't have the festival, I think probably because there was so much else going on," Carr said. "But it's been a wonderful opportunity for us to keep alive a lot of the traditions that came from the five original parishes."
The parish festival is the largest fundraiser for Good Samaritan and helps to maintain the church's ministries and outreach to the community.
Carr said visitors from Ohio, Michigan and even as far away as Canada travel to the attend the event and enjoy the fellowship.
"They come and get to taste the food that their babcia made," Carr said. "They also get to see some of the people that they haven't seen in a year."
Some highlights include a silent auction, big-money raffles, dinners and bake sales, bingo on Glenwood Avenue and the Saturday Polka Mass with the Dick Tady Orchestra.
The archives room containing photographs and items from the original five parishes also will be open to the public from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday.
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Good Samaritan was formed from five parishes that merged in 1994. St. Veronica's, the "territorial" parish, joined with the four ethnic-based ones: Christ the King was Italian, Divine Redeemer was Slovak, Holy Trinity was Croatian, and St. Stanislaus was Polish.
The four-day festival at Eighth Street and Melrose Avenue incorporates that history and ethnic diversity.
"The first year we didn't have the festival, I think probably because there was so much else going on," Carr said. "But it's been a wonderful opportunity for us to keep alive a lot of the traditions that came from the five original parishes."
The parish festival is the largest fundraiser for Good Samaritan and helps to maintain the church's ministries and outreach to the community.
Carr said visitors from Ohio, Michigan and even as far away as Canada travel to the attend the event and enjoy the fellowship.
"They come and get to taste the food that their babcia made," Carr said. "They also get to see some of the people that they haven't seen in a year."
Some highlights include a silent auction, big-money raffles, dinners and bake sales, bingo on Glenwood Avenue and the Saturday Polka Mass with the Dick Tady Orchestra.
The archives room containing photographs and items from the original five parishes also will be open to the public from 3 to 5 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday and from 3 to 8 p.m. Sunday.
Like Ambridge Connection on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and sign up for our weekly newsletter.
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