Community Harvest Festival is Saturday

What started as a conversation about missing an old hometown tradition is now becoming a new one in Holton.

Aaron and Jessi Deters and Bethany Henry are organizing a Community Harvest Festival on Saturday, Oct. 24, at St. Dominic Catholic Church, 416 Ohio Ave. in Holton, hoping to create an annual event that brings the community together.

The festival begins at 5 p.m. that day and will include a free-will donation meal, live music, a beer garden, carnival games, a silent auction, raffles and a live auction.

The Deters moved to Jackson County from Beloit, where St. John’s Catholic Church holds an annual Harvest Festival. Henry is also from Beloit.

“We were just chatting one day and said we wished we had something like that here,” Aaron Deters said. “Because for that festival, everybody comes back home for it.”

Deters said the local festival will help raise money for a master facility plan for St. Dominic while also giving the community an opportunity to gather.

“We need to do a feasibility study to figure out what’s needed for the church and what’s best for our congregation,” he said. “We also want to know what’s needed in the community and how we can make it a win-win. We want to make the festival a community event. It’s not just tied to our parishioners.”

A free-will donation meal of pulled pork sandwiches from Cecil K’s Hometown Market and fresh-cut homemade fries will be served. A beer garden also will be available.

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