Clear skies and warm temperatures prevailed as the crowds descended on St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Stoneham, Texas to celebrate their annual homecoming bazaar on Sunday, May 30, 2010. The festivities started with a special bazaar Mass celebrated at 10:30 am in the beautiful remodeled church by St. Joseph’s pastor Fr Ed Kucera. St. Joseph’s church was built in 1909 by a predominantly Polish immigrant congregation. In the early years, St. Joseph’s was a mission parish of St. Stanislaus parish in Anderson, but it is now a mission parish of St. Mary parish in Plantersville.
A delicious self-serve barbecue pork and beef dinner with all the fixings was served beginning at 11am. There were Grocery, Cake, Plant, Fruit and Sausage booths and raffle and bucket drawings for the adults and a Toy Booth, Train Rides, Face Painting and other activities for the kids. There was a great display of old photos in the parish hall depicting the early history of the parish.
Turkey and the Wranglers set up in the outside pavilion and played lots of good dance music throughout the afternoon. As usual, auctioneer Tommy Szymczak and his side-kick Bobby Fuchs did a fantastic job selling all of the home made furniture, crafts, quilts and other items at the live auction. After the auction, the drawing was held for the raffle prizes which included a John Deere mower, $1000 Wal-Mart gift certificate and lots of other great prizes.
Below are a few photos of the fun and there is a slideshow of many more photos on page 2.
More photos of the bazaar can be found on St. Joseph’s website.
James Smock has always held an interest in his Polish ancestors and heritage. He is a native Houstonian with Polish roots in Bremond, Marlin and New Waverly, Texas.