Besides celebrating with members from surrounding community the goal for the fundraising event was to help generate funds, benefitting all operations and ministries of the Parish.

 

“Mary of the Visitation put together a committee that worked really hard to put it all together,” said Father Mike Kellogg.

 

They reached out to the community and got people involved with the event. They organized everything from setting up, tearing down and everything in between.

 

It was a fantastic block party filled with lots of fun things to do, and for fifty cents folks could purchase a ticket to play a game with the chance to win a prize.

 

Some of the games and activities included ring toss, fishing, rat races and more! There was also a bounce house, face painting and a cake walk. The one-man band Joel Hagberg preformed as well.

 

Bingo and the dunk tank were also a hit as Father Mike and Becker Mayor Lefty Kleis were both signed up to get dunked, as well as other brave members of the parish.

 

Father Mike said he was excited to be in the dunk tank and he talked about how much fun the block party was.

 

Parish members know Father Mike is a big time Packer’s fan (AKA Cheese head). However one member made a deal with him saying that if Father Mike were to wear a Vikings bracelet for two days that she would donate $100 for each day he wore it.

 

In good fun, Father Mike took her up on the offer and even joked that he was getting arthritis in the wrist he wore the bracelet on. 

 

Father Mike said “it’s for a good cause and were having lots of fun with it, but most importantly, is that we are gathering together as a community using the talents that God has given us."

 

He said how proud he is of the people from the parish who helped. He asked everyone to do just one thing, whether it was baking a cake, knitting a blanket or donating items, and they really pulled through.

 

There was a country store, bake sale and ladies boutique where folks could purchase garden produce, homemade baked goods, jewelry, purses and other accessories.

 

A craft raffle was also fun for adults. After they purchased a ticket it was placed in a bucket next to the item they would like to win. There were hand-crafts from quilting to stamping, woodworking, knitting and everything in between.

 

A silent auction was held for gift baskets fill with all sorts of stuff for grilling, kid’s activities, bath and body, scrapbooking and much more.

 

At 3:30 p.m.  there was a live auction for many items including a trip to Branson and a trip to the Great Smoky Mountains.

 

Each year as part of the fundraising block party, Mary of the Visitation holds a Dream Big Raffle where the grand prize is $20,000! There were only 1,000 tickets sold and were $100 apiece with 10 prize winners.

 

The winners for this year’s dream big raffle were as followed: 10th prize winning $500 was Sally Feist, 9th prize winning $500 was George and Celestine Pappenfus, 8th prize winning $500 was Sue Perovich, 7th prize winning $500 was Dave Rooney, 6th prize winning $500 was Becky Andres, 5th prize winning $500 was Tom Throlson, 4th prize winning $1000 was Tom and Sandy Thorn, 3rd prize winning $3000 was Greg Kipka, 2nd prize winning $5000 was Guy Naumann and the Grand prize 1st place $20,000 winner was Tracy Hodel!