Community Corner
St. Bernard's Celebrates Its First Parish Fest
St. Bernard's in Wickford marks its first anniversary with a feast.
The first annual Parish Festival took place at St. Bernard's Church in Wickford on Sunday. The festivities corresponded with both the Feast of St. Bernard (Aug. 20) and the first anniversary of the new church building at 415 Tower Hill Rd.
Director of Faith Formation Kris Auger declared that this festival is the first of “many more to come.”
“Now that we have this beautiful property and have the room we will have a festival every year,” she said. “It will never be on the level of say, St. Rocco's, because this is a country church. We modeled this after what would have been a typical Parish fest 100 years ago. This was farmland.”
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The original farmhouse on the property is undergoing renovation and will serve as the rectory. “They are being very careful to save the period details like pocket doors,” said Auger, “It is a beautiful house”.
The festive weekend started on Saturday with a healing and anointing Mass for shut-ins and the elderly, followed by a light luncheon provided by Robert's Health and Rehab Center. On Sunday, Mass was held at 11 a.m. on the porch of the rectory and the festival followed. Teens from the Youth Ministry manned the children's games and provided the face painting. There were old fashioned games like bean bag toss, duck pond and games involving three-legged races.
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Several music groups took turns using the porch of the rectory as a stage. Girl Scout Troop 625 was on hand to show off their projects involving recycling, composting and green energy. They were handing out free reusable grocery bags. The and the St. Bernard Music Ministry had displays to encourage membership.
Food included typical cookout fair like hamburgers and hot dogs, but festival-goers also enjoyed Captain Carl's Stuffies, Del's Lemonade and ice cream from the Inside Scoop. There was also a bake sale dessert table and watermelon to snack on. Despite the humidity, there were plenty of cool spots under the trees or the food tents.
St. Bernard's was founded in Wickford in 1874 to serve a few dozen families in the mill villages of Lafayette, Hamilton, Annaquatucket, Davisville, Bellville and Shady Lea. Today the parish serves 1,500 families and is growing. They expect the festival to grow with them.
