As you have been seeing here at St. John, in the Naples Daily News, and even hearing on the radio, we are ramping up for one of the largest events ever here, the Gaelic and Garlic Festival. This 2-day cultural festival will highlight the best of Irish and Italian culture in Naples, with food, drinks, music, dancing and a host of other activities for families and people of all ages. This is a wonderful opportunity to engage the larger community around us with the love of our faith through the celebration of both St. Patrick and St. Joseph. It is free to attend and open to the public. We will need all the Parish Family to help with this festival, and the Ministries have already stepped up to assist with vendor management, ticket taking, manning the beer truck, and many of the other tasks that will be required to make this event successful. We can always use more people to volunteer, so you can read more about that in our new “Help Wanted” section of the bulletin.
One of the biggest questions I have gotten about the Gaelic and Garlic Festival has been “What about parking, especially for Mass?” Well, we want to ensure there will be minimal issues to attend Mass that weekend here at St. John. We will be turning our front lot into a temporary Handicap accessible space for both Mass and the Festival, so no one will miss out on this special weekend.
Additionally, we will be instituting a special “Golden Ticket” that you can pull out of the bulletin. This parking ticket will give you VIP priority parking here on campus and in our local partners, Naples Park Elementary School and Hodges Funeral Home. We will have golf carts to assist you from these locations to get to the church, if you require assistance. However, we ask that these local spots be used for Mass only. If you are going to join in the fun and excitement of Gaelic and Garlic, we will have offsite parking locations at Arthrex and Naples Daily News, our partners, and buses that will get you to and from those parking lots. We will make it as safe and comfortable for you and all our visitors that weekend.
I ask all of you to welcome these “strangers”, who may be visiting a Catholic Church for the first time in their lives (or some that have fallen away from the church, but are intrigued by our unique festival enough to venture back), and enjoy Gaelic and Garlic, along with environment it will bring to our campus.