St. Thomas Festival kicks off summer

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- Summer kicked off this weekend at the St. Thomas Festival, welcoming the community and raising money for the parish.

Chair member Jenifer Dittmar said the festival has been around for over 50 years and that it’s a great way to bring people together and carry on a beloved, and delicious, tradition.

“Everyone here can remember being here as a child so it’s one of those neat family traditions and it continues to embrace that community feeling,” Dittmar said. “Everyone loves the live music, we also have great food like pizza and brats and elephant ears, everyone is really partial to that.”

Dittmar said a lot of work goes into planning the event but in the end it is all worth it, and none of it would be possible without the help of the volunteers and the community.

“When you see all the people here having a great time, it really makes you forget all the time that we spent, the hours, the labor, and all of the stuff we move from here to there. It makes you forget that and really remember why we’re doing this,” Dittmar said, “we’re doing this to help support a really good thing for our parish and people are having a great time.”

The festival happens annually and Dittmar said she hopes people continue to come out and enjoy the good food, live music and family fun.