Traditional festival this weekend at Divine Grace Parish
The annual Divine Grace Parish Family Festival, a tradition for the parish, will run Friday through Sunday, Aug. 9 to 11, at St. Ferdinand Roman Catholic Church, 2535 Rochester Road, Cranberry Township.
Highlights of the event include a white-elephant sale, a $15,000 basket raffle booth, outdoor games and a kiddie land.
The kiddie land will feature the St. Ferdinand train, bounce castles and theme nights, with princesses on Friday, a children’s magician on Saturday, and the Cranberry Township Volunteer Fire Department on Sunday.
“We’re trying to do things to get the young kids there and for them to have fun while they are there,” festival co-chairman Jamie Scherer said.
Early in July, the parish begins the collection for its annual white elephant sale. As donations come in, they are sorted and processed leading up to the event.
“It’s just amazing; you see the donations come in and they get sent out to the tents,” Scherer said.
The parish festival is put on by the three churches of Divine Grace Parish: St. Ferdinand, St. Gregory and Holy Redeemer Roman Catholic churches.
The event will feature an Italian dinner on Friday, a chicken barbecue on Saturday, and a stuffed pork chop dinner on Sunday.
“When you go out and look at license plates during the festival, you see license plates from Ohio, Virginia and Maryland. It’s interesting to see how many people come from outside the Cranberry area,” Scherer said.
Musical entertainment will be featured each evening: This, That and the Other Thing will play at 7 p.m. Friday, Funky Uncles at 7 p.m. Saturday, and Spin Cycle at 6 p.m. Sunday.
“It’s a parish event held through the community,” Scherer said. “We couldn’t do this event if we didn’t do it with volunteers, and we spend a lot of time recruiting volunteers and a lot of times the volunteers come from the three churches.”
Volunteers can sign up at the parish’s website.
