The Garden Party by the Sea - A Fashion Show

Jun 27

Letter from the Pastor
Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Last Wednesday, the friars, along with Sr. Pat McNiff and Sr. Pat Klemm and many, many other models strolled “the catwalk” – such as it was – before over 250 people who gathered in the great room of the Bonnet Island Estate at The Annual Garden Party by the Sea – A Fashion Show. What a wonderful event!

The fashion show has been a part of St. Francis Parish for more than 30 years. Back in the 90’s we were modeling the fashions from the local clothing stores in the St. Francis Church Hall. Due to the generosity of our parishioners, Chris and Eileen Vernon, we are able to host this event in their beautiful venue overlooking Barnegat Bay. I want to publicly thank Chris and Eileen and all the staff at Bonnet Island Estate for their generous welcome and for allowing us to take advantage of such a magnificent place.

A great thank you to the committee that pulled it all together. The event itself is only about 3 hours long but the amount of time and effort that is needed to plan for such an event is enormous. Thank you to Tina Kelsall, who chairs the committee, and to Molly Casella, Amanda DeFusco, Michelle DiBella, Maureen Kastner, Toby McCarthy, Arlene Morrison, Nicole Picaro, Dot Pojednic, Rockyn Petrizzi, Lisa Suddeth, and Theresa Valeriani. All the preparations paid off! Everything was perfect!! Thank you for creating a wonderful afternoon for everyone who attended. Thank you to Molly Casella who served as our MC. With her own unique and wonderful charm Molly introduced each model and the clothes we were wearing. She never missed a beat. Thank you to JoAnne Reeder, our former Director of Liturgy, for playing the piano during the event. Without a piece of music insight her graceful tones added a wonderful elegance to our time together.

All of our sponsors also deserve a resounding thank you. It is only through your support that we can continue to produce such a high-quality event. Thank you! Our parish website offers the complete list of sponsors. www.stfrancisparishlbi.org/fashion-show Can do me a favor? The next time you visit the store of one of our sponsors, can you please thank them for their support? We do thank them but a message from you would truly show our appreciation for all of their help.

Thank you to many of our local businesses. Their donations produced the 10 collections of items for the Chance Auction. Ten lucky people went home with a lot more in the back of their cars than when they arrived.

Thank you to our local clothing stores and boutiques who provided the wardrobe for the show: Sur La Plage, 1002 N Bay Ave, Beach Haven; Wildflowers by the Lighthouse, 410 Broadway, Barnegat Light; and Sink'r Swim Men’s Shop and Sink’r Swim Women’s Shop, 11205 Long Beach Blvd, LBT. Please thank them as well for supporting our fashion show the next time you visit their stores. We could not have done it without them.

Thank you to our maintenance team for setting up and then taking down all the tables and chairs. Transporting everything from St. Francis to BIE and then back to St. Francis. I am grateful God has blessed you with strong backs! Thank you to Foodies of Harvey Cedars. The lunch was delicious. Thank you to Arian Selmani and Keel Marketing Agency for helping us with our online presence and advertising. Picture of the Fashion Show can be found on our parish website. I think you will enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed being there. www.stfrancisparishlbi.org/news/the-garden-party-a-fashion-show-photos-2024

Now we are off to the Festival of the Sea beginning on Tuesday, July 2nd. I hope to see you there.

Peace and All Good!