On Saturday September 21, 2013, the annual Affton Community Days Parade and Festival will be held. This year’s theme is “Affton Community Days is Out of This World.” In 2012, the name of this annual community event was changed to Affton Community Days to reflect all residents and businesses in 63123 and the portions of the four area school districts in 63123: (Affton, Bayless, Lindbergh, & Mehlville).
The parade begins at 10:00 am from Affton High School, traveling south on Mackenzie to Gravois and then east on Gravois to Weber Road (at the Affton Fire District Headquarters), then west on Weber Road to Mackenzie where it will travel north to the festival location at the St. Dominic Savio Parish parking lot at 7748 Mackenzie Road.
Shuttle buses will be available from Affton High School (8309 Mackenzie) to St. Dominic Savio (7748 Mackenzie). Look for signs designating where the bus will pick up & drop off at the 2 locations. The shuttle buses will run from 8:15 to 9:15 a.m. before the parade and after the parade until 12:30 p.m.
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The St. Louis County Bagpipers and Honor Guard will lead the parade followed by Chief Tim Fitch and Captain Chris Stocker of the St. Louis County Police and the Affton Fire Protection District units. Following them will be the VIP cars: Grand Marshal Terri Ems who is being honored for her 20 years chairing this event. Following the Grand Marshal’s car will be the Chamber President, Jake Baretich of J & J Construction & Remodeling; the 2012 Citizens of the Year, Larry & Pam Knox, and the 2012 Business Person of the Year, Tim Weinmann, President of Kenrick’s Meats & Catering.
The Parade Judges will be located in front of Gateway Insurance at (9302 Gravois). Three of the teachers honored by the Affton Chamber of Commerce last March will serve as Judges. The marching bands from Affton and Bayless School Districts will be participating again this year.
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The booths on the festival grounds will begin operation at 11 a.m. and a little before Noon the festivities will officially begin with Steve Stenger, County Councilman for the 6th District, singing the National Anthem. The festival ends at 9 p.m. The parade winners will be announced at 12:55 p.m.
Besides the normal festival type food, St. Dominic Savio is offering a chicken dinner in the parish cafeteria from 4-7 p.m. The cost will be $8.00 for adults and include 3 pieces of chicken, choice of 2 sides plus dessert, and coffee or iced tea. A children’s dinner will also be available for only $6.00. There will be tables & chairs under the big tent for those who want to eat outside while listening to the entertainment. Other food which may be available are snow cones, Kabobs, Gyros, Egg Rolls, Funnel cakes, hot dogs, hamburgers, brats, chips, nachos, fried Oreo’s, pizza, and all kinds of desserts. The Chamber will again have a Beer & Margarita booth.
Medicine Shoppe-Affton will be offering flu shots and free blood sugar screenings from Noon-3 p.m. under the Affton Chamber tent. Flu shots will be available for ages 12 and up and the cost is $30, however there is no out-of-pocket cost if you have Essense, Medicare Part B, Part C, or Medicaid. Bring your insurance &/or Medicare card. Cash, Visa, or MasterCard will be accepted and you will receive a receipt you can submit to your insurance company for reimbursement. The free blood sugar screenings will be provided to help assess individual risk factors for diabetes. Thanks to St. Anthony’s Medical Center for providing the First Aid station.
There will be inflatables for the young and a climbing wall and new this year will be a mechanical bull for the young at heart. Fire truck rides will be available. Game booths will include a dunking booth, duck pond, bean bag toss, balloon dart, football toss, bulls eye game, washers, spinning wheel, & Blinko. Several other game booths will be there for everyone’s enjoyment along with Pull Tabs for anyone over 21 interested in them.
Numerous informational booths have signed up so you can talk to companies about their businesses and how they can help you. Some of the booths will have raffles.
The parade & festival would not be possible without the financial support of Affton Chamber members each year. The event is not a fund raiser for the Chamber, but a gift to the community by the sponsors. Major sponsors this year are River City Casino & Hotel; Harster Heating & Air Conditioning; South County Times, St. Anthony’s Medical Center, Affton License Office, Allied Waste, Ameren Missouri, Commerce Bank, and Crestside Heating and Cooling. Additional sponsors include: C. Roberts Pest Control; Crawford-Butz Insurance; DEH Jewelers, Inc.; Eagle Bank & Trust Co.; Essex Industries; Fred’s South County Auto Repair, Gapsch CARSTAR Collision Center; Gateway Metro Federal Credit Union; Georgetown Apartments; Gravois Kiwanis Club, Great Southern Bank, J & J Construction & Remodeling; Timothy J. Kinealy, CPA, LLC; Medicine Shoppe-Affton; Missouri Sweeping; Park Forest Apartments & Townhomes; Southview Assisted Living & Memory Care; State Farm Insurance-Dane Huxel; Tucker’s Place South; UPS Store-Grasso Plaza; and Ziegenhein Funeral Homes.
Programs listing chamber events throughout the year and everyone who helped plan this annual event, plus the entertainment schedule will be given out along the parade route and they will be available at the festival at the chamber tent. The chamber tent will be selling steak raffle tickets for a drawing by SMASH at 8 p.m. that evening. The raffle includes a freezer with 100 steaks from Kenrick’s Meats. Tickets are $5 and available until 7:45 p.m. that evening. They will also be selling beverage mugs and Affton Community Days t-shirts from Youth X-Small to Adult 3X-Large. The shirts are only $10 and have the new Affton Community Days logo on them. The 2013-2014 Chamber Community Directory will be available at the chamber tent—it is free.
Many favorites from past years will be entertaining: at Noon–Juggling Jeff, a high energy, face paced, comedic juggling show that includes danger, suspense, and lots of audience interaction-a show the whole family can enjoy; at 1:00 p.m.–a big fan favorite, Memories of Elvis with Steve Davis, a local impressionist performs a memorable tribute to the King of Rock & Roll, and at 2:00 p.m., local magician Joe Fingerhut from Abra-Kid-Abra, teaches and performs magic and related entertainment—juggling, balloons, clowning, etc.
New this year is a favorite local band, Fanfare, and they will perform from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. near the Beer Garden. Back by popular demand again this year, will be the SMASHBand–they will entertain from 5-9 p.m. on the main stage. Both Fanfare and SMASHBand are known for their interaction with the audience. This schedule means the festival will have continuous entertainment from Noon until 9 pm. The entertainment schedule is posted on the chamber web site with links to the entertainer’s web sites. Click on www.afftonchamber.com and go to Events for all the Affton Community Days information. Information is also posted on facebook.com/afftondays.
To keep the festival safe for everyone in attendance, no outside coolers or alcohol will be allowed as well as glass containers, pets, skates, skateboards, scooters, or bicycles. The festival attracts both the very young and very old and we want everyone to be safe. To keep the parade safe, parade participants are not allowed to throw candy or other items from their units. They must provide walkers to hand out items. If they are found throwing items, the parade marshals will ask them to leave the parade immediately.
The Affton Community Days Parade & Festival is sponsored by the Affton Chamber of Commerce in partnership with St. Dominic Savio Parish. Other partners this year are the St. Louis County Police and Affton High School, and thanks to Rogers Middle School where parking will be available.
For more information about the Affton Chamber of Commerce or Affton Community Days, you can visit their web site at: www.afftonchamber.com.