60 Years of May Fair

Dear Parishioners,

            The 60th annual St. Mark’s May Fair and Strawberry Festival got off to a festive start with a gala Kick-off Dinner in Morrill Hall on Friday, May 1, organized by Sara Daniel and Amanda Layng with decorations by Nancy Kalal.  More than 150 volunteers and friends enjoyed the picnic style fare with music by the Will Creek Band (Will Heins, John Layng, and Jay Walker) and Frederick Whitmer’s rendition of “The Very Model of the Modern May Fair Volunteer” accompanied by B-P Thomas.   During the 10:00 a.m. service the following Sunday, Alice Mueller presented the beautiful crewel embroidery she created for May Fair’s 60th anniversary.  Sixty years of May Fair memories was the topic of a feature article prepared by Lois Sandberg for the local press. 

            May Fair week brought its usual bustle of activity with the daily build up of rides, tents, tables, banners, and scores of volunteers sorting and pricing White Elephant donations in Morrill Hall, the undercroft, the outdoor and toy tents, and books in the sanctuary.   It was a new experience for Father Peter Walsh who would wake up each morning to a new scene outside the Parish House windows.  By Friday, with activity at a frenetic pace and the aromas of the Holy Smoker BBQ filling the air, he was running out of adjectives to describe the situation and settled for “controlled chaos”.  

            The rain showers early Saturday morning on May 9 did nothing to dampen spirits of the early arrivals lining up for the White Elephant sale or the volunteers pitching in with final preparations, and the coffee and baked goods café was doing a brisk business.  By 9:00 the showers had ended and with invocations by Mother Anne and Father Peter the Fair was off to a great start.  By mid-day thousands of fairgoers from New Canaan and all across the region were having a joyful time on the rides, the Old Faithful fire engine, games, face painting and other activities for the children. They filled the White Elephant sale and the book and plant tents.  The new Food Court was a huge success with fast moving lines and comfortable seating areas serenaded by the Dixieland ensemble.  The courtyard area had an old time fair atmosphere with strawberry shortcake, the coffee café, the very popular pony rides, the Bernese mountain dogs, music by the Magical Music for Life singers and Above the Sound band, as well as the Green Tent with its Segway, solar energy and Nicaraguan reforestation displays.  Our 60th May Fair and Strawberry Festival produced another record in the amount of joy and happy faces shared by all. 

            May Fair is a celebration of the volunteer spirit at St. Mark’s.  So many cheerful and helping hands working together to make the event a happy time for all and having a great time in the process.  Some work year round helping collect and store White Elephant donations and catalog books—people like Jonnie Wheeler, Francie Thompson, Joe Zieghan, Dave Daly, Chip Ressel, Gary Ward, Dowell Tye and Brian Hollstein, to name just a few.  Special thanks for donating their storage space go to John Kyles, Cathy Townsend, Fanny Moran, Lila Coleman, Margo Sisson, and Millie Painter.  More than 40 activity heads recruit and energize teams for everything from baked goods to treasury.  Congratulations to our new activity heads this year:  Patti Chamberlin on Face Painting and more, Loretta and John Chappell on Children’s Games, Jarvis Cromwell on the Green Tent, Jill Ernst as the May Fair Volunteer Coordinator, Brian Hollstein on Ticket Sales, Joe Kelly on Old Faithful, John Layng with Dave Krueger on the new Food Court, Judy Stephan and Jane Corcoran on Coffee and Baked Goods, David Shea and Jean-Pierre Lavielle on Set-up, Bruce Taylor in the Treasury, Caroline Tucker and Stuart Parker on Clean-up, Susan Boston returning to run Strawberry Shortcake, Lori Wyckoff and Maggie Downes-Angus on Toys, and our new co-chairs with Francie Thompson on White Elephant:  Joan Brode, Susan Cotter, Kit Devereaux, Catherine Hollstein, and Cassia Ward.  We extend our special thanks to Nadia Cwiach and Thea McGee for all their extra work on May Fair each year, always graciously extended and with their customary good cheer, and to Dick DePatie for his strong support, time and dedication. 

            May Fair is also a celebration of the St. Mark’s community reaching out to New Canaan and other communities not only on the day of the Fair, but year round through our outreach programs funded by May Fair.  The preliminary count of gross revenue raised on May 9 was $207,237.  When all the bills are paid the net amount should be sufficient to provide approximately $100,000 for our outreach programs.  These programs enable us as a parish community to fulfill an important part of the mission of our church—to help “the least of these who are members of my family”—and May Fair currently is the only meaningful source of funding for these programs.  Our outreach programs enable us as individuals to fulfill our baptismal covenant to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being”.  We encourage you to get active in our outreach programs and suggest new outreach initiatives to our Outreach Commission.

                                       Your May Fair Co-chairs,

                            Amy Carroll      Peter Daniel     Bob Stephan