St. Lawrence Mission celebrates fall with a festival

Intermountain Catholic

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Daniel Murtaugh (left) and Drew Congino, a folk rock duo, provide guitar and vocals in the beer garden at the fall festival. IC photos by Christine Young

by Tim Bell, intern

HEBER CITY — St. Lawrence Mission in Heber City welcomed fall with a festival Sept. 22.

"We had to be creative in dealing with the threat of wind, rain, and traffic as a result of road construction," said Marcy McIntosh, a festival co-chairwomen. "But it all worked out. We held this festival primarily to build community within St. Lawrence Mission as well as to reach out to all of Heber City and Park City.

"This was our second annual festival and all of the proceeds will go toward building an elevator so elderly and handicapped people can easily get into our chapel. There are a lot of stairs," said McIntosh. "Our membership is about 350 families, but they are not all active."

McIntosh said St. Lawrence is unique because about 50 percent of the membership is Hispanic, and 50 percent are English speaking. Msgr. Robert Bussen, pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Park City, is also the pastor of St. Lawrence Mission.

"We hope to continue holding this festival every year because besides the elevator, we would like to keep restoring the building. It is old, but it is a special landmark to a lot of the community," said McIntosh. "Because we are 50 percent Hispanic and 50 percent English speaking, we hold a lot of activities where we come together as one. We want the children to get to know each other outside of school, and the parents to get to know each other better.

"We are also unique in that we only have one Mass celebrated each week, and it is bi-lingual. Every school in Heber City is represented by our Catholic community as well as through some families from Kamas."

"We had a lot of donations for our bake sale and farmer’s market," said Judy Huhn. "The Utah National Guard came in with their climbing wall, which was free and a great draw for the kids. The kids also played games and went for pony rides.

St. Lawrence Mission music director Cori Congino and her husband Phil organized the live music groups who performed throughout the day.

The St. Lawrence youth group earned service hours helping out with the festival. The teens participate in a lot of activities through St. Mary of the Assumption Parish because it is nearby and they are able to provide more activities.