61st Hubbard St. Pat's Festival starts Aug. 1

By SAMANTHA PHILLIPS

sphillips@vindy.com

HUBBARD

The 61st annual St. Patrick Parish Festival will run from Thursday to Aug. 4 at 357 N. Main St., and offers food, rides and entertainment.

Admission is free, and participants can purchase a wristband for the festival rides. The festival operates from 6 to 11 p.m. each of those days.

Homemade food brings people back to the festival every year. The festivals offer delicacies including stuffed cabbage, cavatelli, meatballs, barbecue spare ribs, pulled pork, gyros and lamb cooked on a spit.

“Faith, family and community – that’s what we offer in the festival,” said John Bartos, parish deacon. “That’s what we are all about here. The kids can play some simple games, and you can sit down and eat with your neighbors. Nowadays, you hardly even talk to your neighbors.”

The food is cooked by parishioners as it has been for the last 61 years.

“We take a lot of pride in our parish,” Bartos said.

There will be live bands every night of the festival from 8 to 11 p.m., including the House Band on Thursday and Fabulous Flashbacks on Aug. 3.

There will also be contests this year. On Thursday, there will be a homemade pie contest, Aug. 2 a canned-peppers contest, and Aug. 3 a homemade wine contest.

Judging for the contests starts at 8 p.m. People can register for the contests by stopping at the Parish House, 225 N. Main St., and filling out an entry form.

Every day of the festival, there will be bingo in the air-conditioned church hall from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. There will be a basket raffle at 11 p.m., and the grand prize is a 2019 Chevrolet Silverado Crew Cab 4x4 worth $50,000. There are 2,000 tickets available at $50 apiece.

The festival operates rain or shine.

“It’s a good [Mahoning] Valley festival for people to enjoy a night out,” said the Rev. Mike Swierz.

The festival serves as a fundraiser to support the parish’s operation.

“No matter how much food we sell or which bands are here, at the end of the day we are here to serve Jesus Christ,” Bartos said.

For information, visit https://www.stpatshub.org/festival/.