St. Catherine’s Carnival of Fun is back. The beloved family-friendly event will take place on church grounds in Riverside over four days, July 12-15.
According to organizer Fred Durante, the carnival, which was canceled for three years due to the pandemic, will feature some changes in 2023.
“This is really a great event for kids,” Durante said. “We volunteers always thought of it as like a giant birthday party. It’s the one time a year family and friends get to see everyone in a happy time!”
Stewart Amusement, run by a family originally from Greenwich, will return to run all the rides and a number of games, along with Wilder Entertainment, who are local, who will do some of the games.
The company is the home of Connecticut’s finest family midway and is proud of their safety record. They been providing quality rides and attractions to many of the areas most successful events since 1983.
Some of the rides will include the ferris wheel, paratrooper and the scrambler!
Games of skill will include things like ring the bell, knock down the clowns, water pistols and a dunk tank! Also, for kids there will be sand art and arts & crafts.
In the past church volunteers had handled all the food and manned the games themselves, but this year local eateries including Aux Delices, Greenwich Fish and Six Happiness Gourmet Chinese will offer some of their popular items.
“We’ll still do our traditional pizza fritta, with a choice of tomato sauce or powered sugar,” Durante promised.
Unlike years in the past, there will not be a big raffle with a new car and $30,000 gift card as prizes.
Instead a there will be a 50-50 cash raffle every night with $10 tickets. Purchase raffle tickets at the booth near the carnival entrance or from volunteers who will be circulating.
Durante said sponsorships at different levels are available directly through St. Catherine’s website.
Durante who had taken a break from organizing the carnival said he is returning because missed the event. “It’s a community building event. I missed the friends and volunteers, and putting something on that everyone enjoys,” he said. “You can’t put a price on people’s happiness.”
The carnival runs 6:00pm to 10:00pm nightly from Wednesday, July 12 through Saturday, July 15.
St. Catherine of Siena Church, 4 Riverside Ave, Greenwich, CT, 06878
