St. Marys Friends of Park to Host Third Annual Fall Festival
Events include Golf Tournament, 5K Run, BBQ Contest and Talent Show

(August 24, 2009) St, Marys, KS — The St. Marys Friends of the Park is hosting their third annual Fall Festival fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 19, to help raise funds for a new playground in St. Marys Riverside Park. Festival volunteers promise the event will be fun for the whole family and will be bigger and better than ever before.

“We have added several new events this year” said Cindi Fiedler, St. Marys Friends of the Park volunteer and coordinator of the Fall Festival, “including a golf tournament, 5K run, BBQ contest, barnyard Olympics and frozen T-shirt contest. We are pleased to announce our inaugural Beer Garden from 4 to 10 p.m. The Talent Show will also be back as it was a favorite last year.

“Returning this year is the ever-popular Kids’ Game Zone, which includes a castle moonwalk, inflatable obstacle course, and bungee runner,” said Fiedler. “For only $5, each child receives a bracelet that allows admittance to all the games in the Zone for the entire day. It’s an inexpensive way for families to enjoy the festival games.”

According to Fiedler, other returning Festival favorites include an evening hayrack ride, Tae Kwon Do demonstration by Jason’s Tae Kwon Do, West-Star Energy woodworking birdhouse kits, Lowes Build and Grow kits, pumpkin painting, bike rodeo with bike give-away, the beauty shop, Army dog tags and Hummer display, train rides and much more.

“There will also be a lot of great food, and the band Damascus Road will there too,” Fiedler commented. “St. Marys Friends of the Park plans to unveil the playground design, which Learning Structures has presented. We hope everyone will come and see what is planned for the new playground.”

All proceeds from the Fall Festival help make the new playground and other park renovations a reality.

For more information about the Festival, including volunteering, vendor space, or registering for an event, please contact Cindi Fiedler at (785) 321-1000, cfiedler@oct.net or at PO Box 156, St. Marys KS 66536.

In September 2007, the St. Marys Friends of the Park established an affiliated fund with the Kansas Rural Communities Foundation (KRCF). For more information about the St. Marys Friends of the Park Fund and the Fall Festival, and to download event registration forms, please visit www.thekrcf.org/fop.

The formation of the Kansas Rural Communities Foundation in 2006 as 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation created an efficient mechanism through which individuals, families, communities, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and private foundations have been able to create funds and make gifts to benefit their communities.

Donated dollars have established scholarships, built new community playgrounds, assisted families who have children with disabilities, and aided historical preservation, just to name a few. Some of the communities that have benefited from the services provided by the KRCF include Admire, Alma, Belvue, Havensville, Norton, Olsburg, Onaga, Shawnee Mission, St. George, St. Marys, Wamego, Westmoreland, and Wheaton.

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For more information, please contact:
René Eichem, executive director
Kansas Rural Communities Foundation
1004 Lincoln Ave. |P.O. Box 25
Wamego, KS 66547
P: 785-456-8444 | F: 785-456-8443
E-mail | http://www.thekrcf.org