St. Pat's Annual Fall Festival celebrates school's centennial

Fr. Andrew Litt displays an over-sized, stuffed dog, which is available as part of the St. Pat Fall Festival auction on Sunday. Another option will be a real, black lab puppy, which will be up for adoption during the live auction.

Courtesy photo

McCOOK, Neb. — Every year is unique at St. Patrick Elementary School in McCook. But the 2018-19 school year is extra special because it is also the school’s 100th anniversary.

Already this year, the kids received snow cones on the first day of the school, new centennial t-shirts have been printed and alumni have been returning for tours of the school.

The celebration continues this weekend with the 44th annual St. Patrick Fall Festival.

The festivities kick-off Saturday night with an alumni banquet at the KC Hall starting at 6 p.m., which will include dinner and music.

And even with predicted colder weather, everything really gets rolling Sunday with the games, food, and auctions on the St. Patrick Church campus at East Fourth and F Streets in McCook.

Games will be open from noon to 4 p.m. between the church and school, as well as on the streets surrounding St. Pat’s.

Activities for the 2018 Fall Festival include:

* A 26-foot blow-up climbing rock wall

* Gaga Ball Pit

* Petting Zoo

* Pumpkin Painting

* 9 -Square In the Air game

* Mule Rides/Hay-Rack Ride

Pumpkins will also be available for sale at Cece's Corner, which features home-made baked goods and garden produce.

New this year is a canned food drive. Anyone who brings in a canned food item (limit 5 cans) will receive two free game tickets for each can.

Of course, many of the traditional Fall Festival activities remain including all the favorite dining options. The Altar Society will be serving a sit-down, home-cooked dinner in the church basement, starting at 11:30 a.m. Outside among the games and rides, more food options are available including the hamburger/hot-dog snack shack, the cotton candy/funnel cake snack station and the snow-cone trailer.

Inside St. Pat school, the Knights of Columbus will be leading the bingo games, while people peruse tables full of silent auction items on the other half of the gym.

The afternoon wraps up with the popular live auction at 3 p.m. Just a few items include hand-crafted pieces of furniture from Paul Goodenberger, Leon Maum and Aaron Peterson, as well as other unique auction items, including a Mexican dinner from Fr. Lorenz and a painting by Deb Goodenberger.

Raffle tickets are also currently available with a grand-prize of a Husker football ticket package. All proceeds from the Fall Festival benefit St. Patrick Elementary School. For more information about the Fall Festival, follow St. Pat’s on Facebook or visit the website, www.stpatsmccook.com