The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Annual carnival to feature food, fun, music
The air in Avon Lake was alive June 13 with the sounds of music and children playing as well as the delicious smell of food as St. Joseph Parish and School began its annual carnival.
This year comes with a rebranding from just the simple parish carnival to the St. Joseph Parish and School Carnival and Music Festival as the church seeks to highlight the quality bands booked to play this year.
Despite the focus on music, the usual carnival goods are available, from thrilling rides to games to food.
Frank Bolognia, a member of the church and one of the organizers of this year’s hootenanny, said he first got involved with the festival decades ago.
When the fun started back up about four years ago, Bolognia got involved again.
“It’s a great community event,” he said. “We get people, not only parishioners, but people from all over town.”
Bolognia said the allure of the festival lies with the entertainment, food and rides.
“It brings our community together,” he said.
Bolognia said the name change came about due to the quality of the bands that are booked to play.
“Our bands are pretty popular,” he said gesturing to the main tent where a blues sextet was just getting warmed up with some lighter tunes. “This is Colin Dussault tonight. He’ll open up for us tonight.
“It starts out kind of mild like this, then it gets into kind of more fun kind of things.”
He said Disco Inferno, the popular disco band, will play June 14, followed by Sloppy Joe Band on June 15.
Bolognia said the real fire will be unleashed June 16 as the festival welcomes Sumrada, a popular band from the east side of Cleveland.
“We’ve upgraded the music festival portion of the event,” he said. “There’s really something for everybody.”
The festival runs from 6 to 10 p.m. every day until June 16. Admission is free to the public.