Published: July 25, 2009 05:57 pm      

In spite of rain, St. Anthony hoping fundraiser is record-breaker

Proceeds from picnic benefit school, parish center

CLARKSVILLE — John Gilkey was hopeful Mother Nature wouldn’t keep this year’s St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church picnic from being the most lucrative yet.

It was Gilkey and his wife’s first run as co-chairpersons of the annual festival, and as of Saturday afternoon, the fundraising was right on the mark with the previous best of $72,000 set last year.

“It’s almost dollar-for-dollar even,” said Doug King, the co-chairman of the 2008 picnic.

The event is held on Friday and Saturday evenings as a fundraiser for the St. Anthony community, which features a school and parish center.

Nick and Patti Hollcamp also served as co-chairs for the picnic.

The church is located at 316 Sherwood Ave., in Clarksville, and event organizers said the festival is one of the biggest fundraisers for St. Anthony.

“If the weather cooperates today, they have a good chance to knock my record off,” King said.

A few minutes later, the sun was covered by gray clouds, thunder echoed above the voices of children who were running from booth-to-booth, and rain started to pour in sheets.

A severe thunderstorm watch was expected to extend into the evening, but the festival was scheduled to continue, complete with an outdoor food court, beer garden and live music.

“It’s been really busy at all the booths,” Gilkey said. “We had a great night yesterday; it was one of the bigger crowds to come on a Friday evening.”

Gilkey estimated that about two-thirds of attendees were from the church, but added the picnic has drawn more people from the community in recent years.

One of the spotlights of the event is the chicken dinner put on by the St. Anthony’s Men’s Club on Saturday. Gilkey said other Catholic churches in Southern Indiana have requested that the club fry chicken for their picnics and fundraisers.

There also were approximately 30 booths featuring prizes, giveaways and items to be sold with the proceeds going to the church. Gilkey said the event is dependent on church volunteers to help organize the picnic and run the booths.

“Just about everybody in the parish gets involved,” he said. “We literally have hundreds of people out working the various booths.”