Spencer Sacred Heart plans fall festival

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
October 14, 2004

SPENCER - The 12th Annual Sacred Heart Fall Festival will be held Nov. 6 at the Clay County Regional Event Center to benefit the Sacred Heart Parish and School in Spencer. The theme of this year's festival is "Silver Screen Glamour."

The evening will begin with an early Mass at 4:30 p.m. in Sacred Heart Church followed by a social hour at 5:30 p.m. at the event center.

Dinner will be served at 6:30 with the choice of prime rib or chicken teriyaki. In the past, the dinner was buffet style, but this year it will be a sit-down, served dinner.

"I believe it draws people together as a parish," said Rhonda Helm, a chairperson. She added that she and her husband meet people or get to know people through the fall festival that they may have not gotten to know otherwise. "I think the continued success is driven by those that each year continue to come back and bring friends."

At 7:30 p.m. the live auction will begin along with the silent auction. There are several items on both auctions including tickets to Dr. Phil with backstage passes, a bike, school tuition, a truckload of wood, a shopvac and many others. The silent auction is divided into different categories - women, men and children.

"Not only are the adults involved, but the kids take a little ownership, too," said Karen Bauermeister, a chairperson. "The classrooms decide on what type of gift they want to purchase for the fall festival."

The gifts donated by each classroom in the school are items such as a Play Station 2, an X-Box and chopper bikes. They also vote on different family packages including a trip to Minneapolis, the Wisconsin Dells and Kansas City. The family packages include hotel stay along with other activities.

"Sometimes I think what makes the most money or what people cherish the most is the handmade or handcrafted personal items," said Rhonda Helm. She explained that people look forward to seeing the items that certain people donate each year such as different wood carvings.

Another part of the evening is the $100 raffle. The tickets are $100 each with the chance to win $250 up to the grand prize of $10,000.

A dance will follow the auction.

The proceeds of the event benefit both the school and church to help take care of different costs and needs.

"It is a huge money maker for the parish and school. It has always been successful," said Karen Bauermeister. "I think it is a great time for everybody to get together, and it is a great cause."

This year's chair couples are Kurt and Karen Bauermeister and Wayne and Rhonda Helm. The co-chair couples are Greg and Theresa Rasch and Randy and Elli Wiemers, who will also be the 2005 chair couples.

"We have the fall festival to raise money for the school and the church," said Rhonda Helm. "Some people make it an annual event. It is a good event for the community, church and school. You can tell the support of the church by the people who give their time plus the people who give the products in the community."

Anyone is invited to attend the fall festival, especially Spencer, Everly, Royal and surrounding area parishioners. The hope is to have a crowd of about 300 since this is the first year at the event center, according to Karen Bauermeister.

Cost of the event is $30 per person for the evening. For information about purchasing tickets or about the event contact Kurt and Karen Bauermeister at (712) 262-4430 or Wayne and Rhonda Helm at (712) 262-7725.