CABOT — If Concordia Lutheran Ministries' first superintendent had had his way, its first Summer Festival would have been its last.

“The Festival. Much disorder. I didn't like the whole business,” wrote Pastor Heingeist in 1884, after the then-orphanage's first celebration.

But the event continued despite the pastor's disapproval, and this month will mark its 131st observance.

The 2012 Summer Festival will run from noon to 6 p.m. July 29 in the Lund Care Center's back yard on the Cabot campus at 134 Marwood Road.

The event is open to the public and last year drew 700 visitors, said Shirley Freyer, director of public relations for Concordia Lutheran Ministries.

Entertainment this year is based on a doo-wop theme and includes a classic car cruise, an Elvis impersonator, a DJ and Concordia's in-house band.

Freyer said that band is made up of doctors and employees.

Children can enter a fishing derby on the site and participate in a number of other activities, games and crafts.

Freyer said there will be various foods for sale, and tables will be set up under a big tent to allow guests shade during their meal. The same tent will be used for a 3 p.m. worship service led by Dr. Dean O. Wenthe, former president of the Concordia Theological Seminary, who served as its leader for the last 15 years until his retirement in June 2011. He was a longtime professor and expert on Old Testament theology, Freyer said.

“We put together a choir. It's made up of staff and congregants from member churches,” Freyer said. “They will do three numbers during the service.”

Freyer said planning for the event takes a lot of work.

“This is not a fundraiser. This is a public relations event,” said Freyer. “There is no admission fee. You pay for the food.”

Concordia residents will be taking in the event along with the public.

“We really, really work hard to get those residents outside,” said Freyer, who said this is the ninth festival she's planned.

Keith Frndak, president and CEO of Concordia Lutheran Ministries for 29 years, can top that.

“This will be my 30th festival. I actually started on the day of the festival in 1983,” Frndak said.

He said Concordia's Summer Festival was one of the longest running events in Butler County. “It's a tradition. Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, people would take the train into Cabot and bring canned goods and fresh produce for the orphanage,” he said.

Concordia started as an orphan's home in 1883 and the first summer festival was the next year.

According to Concordia's history, the event was started to celebrate another year of operation, give supporters a chance to see the progress at the home firsthand, allow for a special collection to be taken to benefit the home and give members of supporting churches a chance to spend a day in the country away from a summer-heated Pittsburgh.

“It used to be, back in the days when Concordia was smaller and poorer, we had a worship service and an offering. It was a way to support the ministry,” said Frndak.

“It absolutely was to give thanks each year for blessings,” said Freyer of the first summer festivals. “It was definitely a worship service. It's only been in the last decade or so that we've made it a community event.”

“Today it's more public relations than a fundraiser, and it's a way to say thank you to our donors and our employees,” he said.

“It's kind of had an evolution,” said Frndak. “In the days of the orphans we had a thousand people, and we've gone down to three or four hundred.”

Concordia is a not-for-profit organization run by a board made up of members from the congregations of the 36 churches that make up the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod of Western Pennsylvania, Freyer said. Of the 18 board members, 12 seats are held by representatives of member churches.

Nowadays, Frndak said, Concordia ministers to the needs of the elderly from 11 locations and 14 facilities.

“We have 2,000 residents in Concordia now,” he said, “but we serve over 20,000 people a year when you include our home-care and hospice patients.”

“Concordia is very strong,” he continued. “We subsidize 150 people a day who can't afford their care.”