The 27th Annual Bloomin’ Festival was held at St. Bernard Preparatory School on the weekend of April 9th and 10th with record crowds attending. More than 140 artists and craftspeople were on hand to join in the celebration of the arts. In attendance were glassblowers, chime makers, blacksmiths, and chair caners as well as artisans who presented flowering plants, jewelry, pottery, quilts, and decorative items for the home and garden.
“We were blessed with warm weather and sunny skies for the entire weekend,” said Fr. Marcus Voss, President of St. Bernard Prep School. “It was a pleasure to welcome all the people who joined us to help make this event successful.”
Joyce Nix, who is responsible for coordinating and directing the event, said she is very pleased with the weekend. “Bloomin’ Festival is a fun time for our community. There is nothing we like more at St. Bernard than hosting an event of this size to share this beautiful place with friends and family!”
More than 200 volunteers gave their time to the two-day event. Nix said, “It takes the whole school community and then some to make the weekend go well. Because of the large crowd, we had to work especially hard to get everyone on campus. Once they were here everything went smoothly.”
“The food court was very busy this year,” continued Nix. “The overwhelming crowd meant we have to purchase extra potatoes, lemons and beef at the end of the day on Saturday! The local grocers were very helpful and I think we bought every lemon in Cullman that evening. We were thankful to Brickyard Meat of Cullman for making more beef patties for us which helped meet the demand.”
On Sunday, the first prize of a 2011 Jeep Patriot was awarded to Leonard Palumbo of Birmingham, Alabama. The second prize winner of the Zoder’s Inn weekend in Gatlinburg, TN went to Bryan Daniel of Alabaster, Al. Crystal Feldner of Cullman won the Zune HD 16 GB wireless media player. The fourth prize of a Kodak easy share digital camera was given to Cheryl Cornwell of Athens, GA, and the fifth prize of an Apple IPod shuffle was won by Brian and Mary Sullivan of Homewood, Alabama.
All proceeds from the 27th Annual Bloomin’ Festival benefit the operational budget of St. Bernard Preparatory School.
Saint Bernard Prep, Ave Maria Grotto, and Bloomin’ Festival can be followed on Facebook. For more information on St Bernard Prep School visit www.stbernardprep.com.
