Community Comes Out for St. Sebastian Festival

The is in full swing this week with church volunteers estimating crowds of over 1,000 people a night arriving to enjoy the carnival-style church fundraiser.

The festival, which started on Monday, will continue through Saturday to raise money for the St. Sebastian Elementary School. It is held in the upper parking lots of the church located at 311 Siebert Road in .

According to Bobbie Kunz, festival co-chairperson and financial coordinator, the festival usually raises $100,000.

“I’m really happy with what it has done and the final results,” said Kunz, whose children attended the St. Sebastian School.

"The planning for the massive six-day festival starts in September and goes year round," said Kunz. "It takes a committee of 30 core members to plan the event and around 250 volunteers nightly to run it."

“It’s a lot of work but it’s a lot of fun,” Kunz said. This festival is the seventh one in which she has volunteered.

Another co-chair, Dan Kerr, said that the festival is always growing in size and attendance. Kerr has been involved with the festival since the beginning more than 30 years ago.

Kerrs favorite part of the festival?

“I entertain. That’s what I do. I have fun,” said Kerr while wearing an oversized straw hat and fake flower necklace.

He served as DJ for the event and interacted with children in the crowd asking them to dance to Bible music and guess the number of candies in a jar to win a prize.

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