St. Joseph of the Lakes

Today we welcome Sr. Rose Vu as our annual mission speaker. She will be raising money to support the work of the Church in Vietnam.

In an email I received from Paul Lillyblad (one of our parish trustees) he said, “Festival weekend was another awesome experience for our parish. Excellent teamwork was shown by the staff, committee and volunteers to overcome the heat and put on a first class event for our community. My thanks to everyone for this extraordinary effort”.

I must say I absolutely concur with him in his evaluation of the festival. It is always amazing to me to watch on Friday and Saturday as many different volunteers set up for the festival. Everyone seems to know what they are doing and radiate a happiness as they anticipate the event. The festival itself is a wonderful moment watching parishioners and neighbors mingle and enjoy the entertainment. Our volunteers ranged from young to a bit older, reflecting the mix of our parish family.

I want to thank Maggie Arnevik, the chair of the Festival Committee. Under her leadership, those responsible for organizing gathered together and made their plans to make the festival the best day ever. I want to thank all of those who took leadership positions to make sure this great annual tradition continues and builds.

Past chairs Brian and Chris Sauter and John Carney were also on hand the entire weekend to assist in overseeing countless details of set-up, communications, gaming and much more. Great teamwork, and plenty of laughter along the way.

It was quite a fine day! Thanks to all who made it that way!