CELEBRATE Family! 
Our Annual Saint Francis of Assisi Feast Day

The season of Fall arrives, the harvest is complete and it is a time to celebrate life, our community and time to celebrate relationships.

Feast Day 2002 proved to be a true celebration of unity for our parish. All of our separate communities came together and fully participated in celebrating our Feast Day on October 4th and 5th.

The traditional Blessing of the Animals began the Franciscan celebrations on Friday evening. Sixty animals were blessed, and owners received certificates and special St. Francis medals.

On Saturday morning the community gathered in the chapel for the play, "A Poor Man of Assisi," put on by our youth. Hours of preparation made it truly unique and memorable.

Following the play, food booths opened with their offerings of beer, wine, soft drinks, bottled water, Italian sausages, chili and chips, a salad bar, and desserts and ice cream along "Sweet Tooth Alley." The Youth set up their photo booth in the courtyard adjoining the Memorial Garden.

Catechists from the Children's Liturgies presented videos, stories, and crafts relating to St. Francis throughout the day in the patio area. Also, there was a "jumper" for the kids, as well as free pumpkins to take home after Feast Day.

New this year to our Feast Day celebration were the donation and raffle of theme baskets. The gorgeous theme baskets, displayed so effectively and donated by every community, sparked conversation and interest. Together with the raffles of donations from our sponsors for various attractions and entertainment venues, there were many prizes to win.

100% of our communities came through for our Talent Showcase. Such a variety of talent and creativity had never been seen before in our Gathering Space. Patriotic songs, a violin solo, two bands, the "St. Francis Hit Parade," the "Brothers & Sisters," Elvis, an Italian "Band," the Villages rappers and a wonderful slide show were all presented by our communities. And, just when we thought the Talent Show was over, our Parish Staff came out with their own rendition of "I Heard It Through the Grapevine." What a way to end!!

Prizes, Prizes, Prizes!
There were two competitions during the Feast Day, one for Booth Decorating and one for the Talent Showcase. The winner for the Booth Decorating was the Villages, and the Talent Showcase winner of the first St. Genesius award was the "Brothers & Sisters" from the 9:30 Grange community. Topping off the day's festivities was the Opportunity Drawing for three prizes: a $1,000.00 gift certificate for any Carnival Cruise, a Bed & Breakfast week-end in the Wine Country, and a Game Boy Advance System. Parishioners Char Randall, Freddy Refugio, and Elaine Swyt were the lucky winners, respectively.