St. Marguerite Parish welcomes the community

Intermountain Catholic

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Selma Jockisch (left) enjoys the farmer's market produce along with Marilyn Hildebrand. Jockisch also helped run the Country Store.IC photos by Christine Young

TOOELE — St. Marguerite Parish welcomed the community of Tooele to their annual Fall Festival Sept. 15-16, to celebrate the ethnic diversity in Tooele.

Father Matthew Wixted, pastor of St. Marguerite Parish, said the festival celebrates the unity of the parish as a family of faith and love through the guidance we receive from Jesus Christ. It also highlights the feast day of our patron saint, St. Marguerite Mary Alacoque.

The festival offered a variety of ethnic foods including traditional German, Navajo, and Mexican foods, and American hamburgers and hotdogs. In keeping with a community tradition, the festival opened each day at 11 a.m. so the community could enjoy lunch.

While children played games and had a carnival in the basement of the St. Marguerite Parish Hall, parents browsed the silent auction items, the country story, and the farmer’s market. The children’s carnival offered games, face painting, a fish pond, and ping-pong toss.

Parishioners and friends from the community took turns singing karaoke while festival patrons danced, ate, and visited. The entertainment also included local and professional soloists, instrumentalists, and dancers. In between the stage performances, a live auction was held. All of the live and silent auction items were donated by parishioners and people from the community. All of the proceeds will benefit the parish youth, religious education and development fund, and aid in maintaining the rapid growth of the parish.