You know, it's summer when the parish picnics
begin in full force across Kentucky, Anna.
And so that's why we wanted to be here
this morning bringing out Great Day Live,
live from the Saint Martha Parih
picnic just off of Klondike
Lane in the Hikes Point area.
I'm with Dan Gerber and Paul Fot
who've been busy putting things
together here all morning long.
And Dan, I know this is an excig
year for you guys 52 years and t
do you think about that?
I mean kind of the the force of
having a picnic around that lon?
We it's it's a well oiled machie
that's been going a long time and you
know we were trained coming int.
You know they handed it off to s
and we do a lot of things the s,
but try to implement our own and put our
own touch on it as we go forward. This
is one of the biggest parish picnics.
Happening here, 2 days of a lot of fun.
Kind of what is happening
kind of behind us right now.
Behind the scenes people
are starting to show up.
What have you all been busy doing here?
Not just this morning I
think throughout the week?
Well, we start planning in
January and making changes,
talking about new ideas,
but it all gets going on Monday.
Setting up boosts, baking cakes,
getting vendors on site,
trying to, we probably put in.
10,000 volunteer hours
between everybody, right.
I know people look forward to
this and all summer long, right?
It's it becomes, I don't know h.
Paul, how would you describe it?
Is it just like a family reunio?
Is it a way to kind of catch uph
people before they get carried y
with vacations and doing other things?
Yeah. I mean, it's really an
event for the community we put
a lot of time and effort into.
It brings people out old, young,
you know, graduates from St.
Martha from the very beginning to now.
You know, I had an eighth grader
that just graduated and she
just wants to be back here for
her last eighth grade picnic.
So it's really for the communitd
that's one of the big things li,
you know, fundraisers and does a
lot of great things for the sch,
whether it's replacing windows
or buying new equipment.
But it's really a community evet
to bring everybody together
and have a great time.
You mentioned like the things that it
goes to and I think a lot of tis
people love to come for the fund
then then when you break it dowu
realize the importance that thi,
what this means for the parish
for the entire school year.
It really is a big fundraiser like you said,
just small things like replacing windows.
What else do you do you look to
kind of allocate that money for?
Well, we have a lot of different
community or groups within the
organization that step in and help out.
So they get some funding for th,
whether it's the alter society,
the sports ministry. Adult spor,
all those different groups come together,
help out, you know, work a boot,
and then that way the entire community
benefits from the picnic and not
just one organization spreading
it all around. And we're expectg
a good crowd out here tonight.
You open up at 4:00 o'clock.
The weather I've already told,
like Alden German already told me he's
going to be here later this afternoon.
But you did mention that the weather is
going to break here and it's not raining,
so we're expecting big crowds.
I'd love for you guys to kind of
give us a tour of explain like l
the different things that you h,
like that's back this year and what's new?
So we have the standard picnic games,
Blackjack, beat the dealer,
shut down Parker.
We also have wheels, cakes,
plants, fruit, candy.
We have inflatables for the kid,
lots of kid games, classic kerplanks,
the froggers, things of that na.
We also have Horse Race Bingo,
which is unique to Saint Martha.
And then we have our bands The
Midnight Chasers on Friday and
Judge Angus on Saturday. Yeah,
I think Terry was just kind of giving
us a kind of the lay of the land here.
You got the stage set up
over here on the right.
You guys excited to have this is this
is a band you've had here befor.
Midnight Chasers is new this ye,
so we're excited to have them.
Judge Angus has been here
for the past several years.
They're a big hit. And so we,
we love to keep having them bac.
And so everybody's excited to come out
and hear the music and have a good time.
All right, let's talk.
We're going to give people
more of a preview of the food
coming up a little bit later.
But what do you look forward
to specifically with like the
different food items that you he
set up outside and both inside?
Well, the big hit, of course,
our fish and chicken dinners.
Chicken everybody comes out for,
they do great job frying that
up on Friday or on Saturday.
I'm sorry. Outside food, of cou.
We have pizza, we have hot dogs,
pretzels, all the kind of standd
food that you'd have at a picni.
And so there's plenty of options here.
Whether you want to fried chickn
dinner or you want to want a pretzel.
Look forward to the picnic food, right?
Like, it's that that special, like once
a year, let's go get gear up for that.
And you have beer tents here as well, right?
Absolutely. We have draft beer d
canned beer for people to get.
All right. OK. I mean there this
is should be a great opportunity
this weekend because you're not
competing with any other events.
Dan, you have this all to yours.
I know, right? We're
super excited, right?
Celebrate summer and get things going
with with the picnic this year.
I know you all are excited and
we have to give a shout out.
We'll keep giving shout
outs to all the volunteers.
You guys are just here volunteeg
and everybody's been volunteerig
like you said, since January.
Once again opens at 4:00 till
midnight tonight and four
till midnight tomorrow. All
right. So that's just your preview coming up.
We're going to take you inside the cake room.
We may spin the wheel,
we may give you a sample of the
different games that are coming,
but so much more coming up
right here on great day live.
So do stay with us now,
stay with us because right after
the break we are going to give ,
we're going to check in with a .