Florida Catholic | Festival On The Hill

FAMU Catholic Student Association rocks Festival on the Hill

KATHY GROBE | FLORIDA CATHOLIC CORRESPONDENT

Published: 10.26.07

Marti Johnson takes the microphone to sing “Wind Beneath My Wings,” at St. Eugene Chapel's annual Festival on the Hill.
TIM GROBE | FC

TALLAHASSEE | St. Eugene Chapel and Catholic Student Center hummed with activity as hundreds of parishioners and others enjoyed the fourth annual Festival on the Hill Oct. 13.

“This is our primary fundraiser for our programs each year,” said St. Eugene’s pastor, Father Ilesanmi Osasona. “We welcome our guests and hope that they enjoy themselves.”

From health screenings to hay rides, a silent auction and children’s games, festival-goers of all ages could find something for them. The aromas of chicken and Hispanic dishes wafted across the grounds, while a three-piece combo jammed on the bandstand. Impromptu vocal renditions of popular songs burst out as keyboardist Ryan Way, guitarist Neal Gore and drummer Javier Laureano, all members of St. Eugene’s music ministry, improvised jazz and rhythm and blues.

TIM GROBE | FC
St. Eugene Chapel pastor, Father Ilesanmi Osasona, welcomes festival-goers to the fourth annual Festival on the Hill Oct. 13. Proceeds from the festival help support the chapels programs.

Coveta Grant, chairwoman of the festival organizing committee, said the day’s events were the results of months of hard work by the entire St. Eugene community. “Our committee had at least 15 members,” she noted. “We started out in April, meeting once a month until we were meeting almost every day” the closer the festival got, she said.

Mark Anthony staffed a basketball booth, while children of all ages shot hoops. A parishioner at Blessed Sacrament, he volunteered to help because he was having so much fun. Javier Laureano, 9, son of drummer Laureano and a student at the Florida State University School, assisted children entering and leaving a bouncing booth shaped like Thomas the Tank Engine and took some time to play as well.

As the afternoon waned, Hispanic parishioners took to the stage. Led by Missionary Servant Father Alexis Zuniga, who heads the Hispanic ministry at St. Eugene, the music took a Latin turn.

Organizers said it would be about a week before they knew how much money had been raised.

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FAMU Catholic Student Association rocks Festival on the Hill

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