For more than fifteen years, St. Xenia Church in Methuen, MA has served the All-Night Vigil for the feast of the Holy Righteous John of Kronstadt on October 31st. The celebration has built steadily, and now brings many parents and children to church to have fun and avoid the Halloween madness.

Since Vigil fell on a Saturday this year, the parish sisterhood decided to take the opportunity to reach out to other parishes and friends and invite them to join in celebrating the feast with daytime festivities. A few of the sisters worked very hard to build the event into a "Harvest Faire," with lawn games like beanbag toss, ring toss, and more, a "cupcake walk," eating donuts on a string, and field games like tug-of-war, sack races, and leg races.

The parish was blessed with a spectacular day of fall weather! The Faire began at 1:00 PM and went through the afternoon. At 4:30, parishioners enjoyed “chili bar” dinner before starting the All-Night Vigil.

There were close to 100 people of all ages, from babies to grandparents, attending. Some of people were newcomers. The young single people ran the games and really brought the festival alive, while the parents kept track of their children and the grandparents appreciated it all and helped where they could.

This event has always been sponsored financially by the sisterhood, but this year had a suggested donation of $15 per family for fun, games, and dinner, and as a result the event became a successful fundraiser for the parish.

The challenge ahead, of course, is to creatively adjust for a weekday celebration in the future. Though a year away, ideas are already being considered by parishioners eager to make the festival a popular tradition.