In the city of Portage, the annual staple that has become synonymous with summer in the city is the Nativity Festival hosted at Nativity of Our Savior Church in mid-July. This coming weekend marks the 47th annual summer festival as it runs Thursday, July 12 through Sunday, July 15.
People who were raised in Portage or lived in the city at any time often plan their vacations around returning for the festival. It serves as a mid-summer gathering and reunion for families, friends and classmates. The festival has been a booming success and thrived for nearly five decades.
“I believe what makes our parish a big hit is that we are always looking for new ways to improve the festival from year to year,” Father Andrew Corona said. “We carefully listen to the comments people make each year and then we, as a committee, discuss them. We try to create a family friendly atmosphere that is also affordable.”
The committee is set to implement several tweaks to improve the festival. The raffle drawing has been increased to a grand prize of $10,000 following by prizes of $5000, $2000 and $1000. There are ten cash prizes starting at $500 down to $100. A professional team with concert lighting and sound will be on hand as the festival features some of the hottest bands in Northwest Indiana and Chicago.
Hosting a festival of this magnitude requires a lot of work by many different individuals. The planning process starts just about a month after the conclusion of the previous year’s festival.
The 2012 version of the Nativity Fest will be stocked with all the annual favorites. Food, corn, carnival rides, root beer floats, nativity kid activities, book sales, bingo, pull tabs, adult table games, raffles and live entertainment are all components of the festival. The Crawpuppies will kick off the weekend on Thursday night followed by Final Say on Friday, Nawty on Saturday, family Karaoke on Sunday afternoon and Mariachi Jalisco on Sunday evening.
“It is an opportunity for me to greet our guests and see friends. Because Nativity has nearly 2000 members, it is also a good time to approach people and find out their names,” Corona said.
Corona credited the faithful group of people who do the cooking for the festival weeks in advance. He also mentioned that Nativity’s Knights of Columbus are instrumental in assembling the booths and doing various tasks to help make the festival possible. There is also a crew of young men who clean every night to get ready for the next night. Office staff, Festival Chair People and volunteers also make contributions.
“Everyone who helps in even the smallest way makes our festival a success,” Corona said.
The Nativity Festival will take place from 6:00 to 11:00 Thursday evening, 6pm-Midnight Friday and Saturday and 1:00pm to 10:00pm Sunday. Click here to visit the Nativity website!