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By Fr.Joseph Muller, MSC
 To help promote parish unity and raise funds for the parish, Fr. Paul Frenzkowski, MSC, who served as pastor of Holy Family Parish in Nazareth, PA from 1923-1939 animated the parishioners to celebrate an annual picnic. With permission from the Borough this was held on Center Street, outside the old rectory and church. Families cooked food and baked cakes which they sold during the festivities, donating the proceeds to the parish. Permits to sell beer and run gambling wheels were also obtained, while local bands supplied music for the lively dancing. The event delighted everyone. People looked forward to it each summer. After the construction of the new school, gym and ball-field in 1956, the site for the picnic was moved from Center Street to the ball-field area. By this time it had outgrown the setting of local parish picnic. Thousands of people from Nazareth and the surrounding Boroughs came to enjoy the excellent food, drink, music and dancing.
In recent years the festival spans three days and is held on the last weekend in July from 5PM to midnight. The parish rents three large circus tents. One houses the cookers and food stands, another the tables, dance floor and beer bar, while the third shelters the bingo players. Another seven or eight smaller tents house the children's games, while Jim Thorpe Entertainment supplies carnival type rides and games of chance for the children. A unique Polka Mass is celebrated at 4PM on Saturday.
Despite the protection from the elements, prayers are offered for good weather. And most years we are granted it, not without a shower or two. But they don't dampen the spirit of the people, who reemerge after the rain stops to eat, drink and be merry.Creating a festival of this magnitude demands a lot of preparation and a small army of volunteers to setup, prepare, serve and take down. Thanks be to God, they never fail to appear. The outcome is a deepening of friendship among the volunteers, sizable income for the parish and a sense of pride in accomplishment. Could we ask for anything more?
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