It was a beautiful sunny day with a light wind blowing as St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Stoneham, Texas held their annual homecoming bazaar on Sunday, May 27, 2012. St. Joseph’s was established in 1909 by Grimes County Polish immigrants. Bazaar day started with a special Mass celebrated by Fr. Bill Kelly at 10:30 am in the beautiful remodeled church. At 11:00 am, workers started serving a delicious barbecue pork and beef dinner with all the fixings including a choice of homemade deserts and cold ice tea.
The grocery, cake, plant, fruit, sausage and poker booths kept the crowd busy and there was a toy booth, train rides, face painting and other activities for the kids. Live dance music was provided in the outside pavilion by Hwy 105 Band with talented musicians and singers Bill Mock, Carl Waitz, Joseph Klotz, Donovan Pavlock and several others.
Auctioneer extrodinaire Tommy Szymczak and his side-kick Bobby Fuchs did a great job selling home made furniture, crafts, quilts, fresh vegetables and a bunch of Houston Texans memoribilia at the live auction. The highlight of the auction was a Houston Texans quilt made by St. Joseph’s Quilting Sisters group. Texans head coach Gary Kubiak, who was present at the auction, autographed the quilt after Parts Unlimited owner Johnny Patke from Pearland, Texas bought it. Johnny then donated it back to St. Joseph’s and they auctioned it off again. Grimes County Judge Joe Imhoff bought the quilt the second time and gave it back to Johnny Patke. Johnny then donated the quilt back to St. Joseph’s for next years auction. After the auction, the drawing was held for the raffle 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.