St. Margaret Mary Parish annual festival returns to great fanfare after pandemic absence

The Festival of Friendship has been held for decades at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Lower Burrell, but the pandemic moved the tradition online for the last two years.

On Friday and Saturday, the two-day festival returned to in-person with live music, food trucks, games, bingo, a basket auction, and rides for kids.

Organizers say it has drawn the largest crowds they have seen in some time, composed of parishioners and community members from Lower Burrell.

The Rev. Ken Zaccagnini said people have really responded to the festival returning as an in-person event. He said many people have seen each other for the first time in years because of the festival.

“There is absolutely no substitute. We need this social interaction,” Zaccagnini said. “On Friday, the crowd came and they didn’t leave. They enjoyed meeting with people much more than they probably realized.”

The crowd enjoyed the basket auction on Saturday, with hundreds roaming the aisles to drop raffle tickets into the corresponding baskets. The baskets were donated by community members. Ihe items ranged from homemade goods to grocery store gift cards to a full-size kayak.

Zaccagnini donated two 5-gallon gas cans with $150 of cash each — inspired by this summer’s high gas prices.

Susan Decroo of Lower Burrell is a volunteer at St. Margaret Mary Parish; she was hoping to win the grocery store gift cards and various other items. She said she was glad the Festival of Friendship was back in person.

“It’s great to have it back in person,” Decroo said. “There are people I haven’t seen in years.”

Festival coordinator Ariel Schroeder said proceeds from the basket raffle and the festival go toward the church. She said the size and scope of this year’s festival wouldn’t have been possible without volunteers.

Caitlin and Mike Tobin have been parishioners since 2018. This was the first year they were able to attend and they were pleased with the low prices for rides and games for their son, Michael.

“This is a super nice festival,” Caitlin said.

Marucci Brothers provided the kiddie train and tea-cup rides, which were made out of the local company’s shop in Wilmerding.

Food trucks were a new addition to the festival and were popular with crowds.

Joe Malaspina brought his Chef Joe’s Kitchen food cart to the event and he organized the six other trucks that dotted the parking lot at St. Margaret Mary Parish.

Malaspina was selling gourmet hot dogs, hot sausage sandwiches, and BBQ pulled chicken with his secret sauce.

Other trucks available included Hot Ash pizza from Vandergrift, Kona Ice from Monroeville, DJ’s Steaks cheesesteaks from Pittsburgh, funnel cakes, and fresh cut french fries from the New Kensington Volunteer Fire Company.

Malaspina said they went through 450 pounds of potatoes on Friday, and expected go through 600 to 700 pounds on Saturday. He said the food trucks helped with the popularity of the festival this year, and that attendees really responded to being back, under a large tent in the parking lot, conversing with friends and neighbors.

“We needed something like this to bring us together,” Malaspina said.