The Annual Carmelite Fair is coming soon, Sept. 20

Intermountain Catholic

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Carmelite Sister Mary Joseph and her dog, Ebony, invite everyone to the Annual Carmelite Fair Sunday, Sept. 20, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be food booths, a live and silent auction, live entertainment, and gifts for the whole family to purchase.IC photo by Christine Young

HOLLADAY — "The Carmelite Fair is only three weeks away," said Carmelite Sister Mary Joseph. "It will be held Sept. 20, here on the grounds of the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Monastery, 5714 Holladay Blvd. The fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

"We start setting up for the fair Sept. 16," said Sr. Mary Joseph. "I will not be here that morning because I will be on "Good Things Utah," on ABC Channel 4, to help advertise our fair. I will be showing off all of our good stuff. We usually get most of the work done before the fair begins so we can have a day of rest before the fair begins. I start early because you can never trust what the weather is going to do, so you cannot go according to exact plans. If it rains, we can’t set up our tents."

Sr. Mary Joseph said she has around 300 volunteers. Volunteers are coming from Juan Diego Catholic High School, Blessed Sacrament Parish, and Saint John the Baptist Parish. The Judge Memorial Catholic High School football team comes at about 4 p.m., then at 5 p.m., they start taking down the tents and putting things away. They are a big help. James Cordova, the Judge Memorial head football coach is really good to bring his team to help out.

"We also have several other groups of kids who are helping out," said Sr. Mary Joseph. "I also will be calling some girls from Judge Memorial to come and help. It is good for these high school kids to get involved.

"Some of the volunteers have been coming for 40 years," said Sr. Mary Joseph. "Some of the entertainers have also been coming for a long time. The Utah Pipe Band has been coming longer than that. They started entertaining here during the 1960s. I entered the Carmelites in 1963, and the Utah Pipe Band was entertaining at the Heather Restaurant, which is now the Tuscany Restaurant. The owner of the Heather was Scottish, so he had the Utah Pipe Band playing there. So we invited them to come here and play and they have been coming ever since.

Other entertainers will be the Utako Triskalariak Basque Dancers of Utah, Pasion Flamenca Brazilian Dancers, "Sil Lum Kung Fu Club, who will perform the "Chinese Lion Dance," and the OPA Greek Dancers. From 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., the Higher Ground Jazz Band will perform in the dining area.

"We will have a live auction at 2 p.m., with Bill Brown as the auctioneer," said Sr. Mary Joseph. "Our prize giveaway this year will be a 2009 Nissan Versa, $2,000 in cash, $500 in cash, a men’s wristwatch, a woman’s wristwatch, and a dollhouse fully furnished with dolls.

"The bishop will celebrate Mass for the workers that evening at 7:30 p.m. in our chapel," said Sr. Mary Joseph.

There will be shuttle bus service and parking at the following locations. There will be parking on 6200 South and Highland Drive; at Prophet Elias Greek Orthodox Church after noon on Highland Drive, at Macey’s on Highland Drive, at the Holladay Library on Murray-Holladay Road, at Mt. Olympus Junior High School on Murray-Holladay Road, at Holladay Village on Holladay Blvd., and the Holladay Post Office on Holladay Blvd. There will not be any parking at the Cottonwood Mall. Juan Diego Catholic High School busses will shuttle people. Most of the businesses along these streets are open on Sunday, and parking may be available. The LDS Ward at the top of the hill has opened the south end of its parking lot for the fair. The last bus will leave the monastery at 5 p.m.

Pete Funaro from Diamond Lil’s will manage the food booths, and Rick Trentman has donated the cost of the Intermountain Catholic ad in honor of the late Gordon Wilson.

"We will have Basque sausages sandwiches, Rico’s will bring the Mexican food, the Knights of Columbus will furnish pizza, and we will have hamburgers and hotdogs.