St. Cecilia Festival — ‘like no other’ — opens tonight with a free concert — and more to come

By Patricia A. Scheyer
NKyTribune reporter

It is billed as ‘the Church Festival like no other.”

St Cecilia, in Independence, holds a festival every Labor Day weekend, and it draws large crowds every year. It is rated by a national group as the number one festival in Northern Kentucky.

The festival begins with a concert on Friday evening from 7-10 p.m. with the Van Dells’ Farewell Tour. The band will play from 7:30-9:30 p.m., and they will play great hits from the 50s and 60s. This is a concert only and there will be no rides.

There are also no admission fees.

“This band has a great following among all ages,” said Cherri Pretty, who has been festival chairperson for 17 years. “We want this to be a summer’s end concert plus, and we do expect a large crowd. Our crowds tend to run about 12,000 to 15,000.”

The original St Cecilia church was built in 1880 about a half mile from where the current church is now. Due to a fire in 1919 that destroyed the church, a new church was built on land originally earmarked for a cemetery, but because the parish had grown, they had to build a bigger church.

The parish continued to grow, and church officials decided to hold a chicken dinner on Labor Day as a fundraiser for the new church. It was so popular, the event grew to be the three-day festival it is now.

Saturday begins around 5 p.m. and the rides will be up and running, which is always fun for the kids and teens.

There are plenty of booths, some with games for adults and children and of course there will be booths with food and beverages.

“Our bands are the best of the best trivia bands,” said Pretty. “Saturday we will have BonJovi, a band that will play hits from the 80s. Music generally starts about 7 p.m., and goes to around 11 p.m.”

Sunday will feature all the booths, games and rides again, and country aficionados will be happy, as there will be a band playing a tribute to Shania Twain and Toby Keith.

“We offer a great alternative to the other celebration by the river,” said Pretty. “You have just as much fun, and you don’t have to deal with those crowds.”

Monday is family day and will feature the famous chicken dinner, for $6 and $10.

Families can come and have fun while listening to the LandSharks play a tribute to Jimmy Buffet.

Kona Ice will be free from 1 to 2 p.m. on Monday.

All weekend the new car will be on display so people can buy raffle tickets on the arctic white Corvette Stingray 1LT for $25 apiece. This beautiful vehicle has an MSRP of $69,995, or the winner can take $50,000. There will be a few pre-winners who will win $500.

Independence Mayor Chris Reinersman is a member of the parish, and he and his wife love to volunteer at the festival occasionally.

“Labor Day weekend is an exciting time in Independence, as our city’s largest congregation, St. Cecilia Parish, holds their annual festival,” Reinersman said.

“From its humble beginnings more than 100 years ago to the extravaganza that attracts tens of thousands of visitors to our city today, the festival never disappoints with great music, fun, food and fellowship. I’m particularly excited to kick off this year’s event by proclaiming Friday, August 30th, as “The Van-Dells Day” in Independence, recognizing the day that St. Cecilia will be one of the last stops in the farewell tour of this iconic band that has delighted millions of people in more than a half of a century performing.”

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