Fair For All

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
200 Riverside Avenue
Riverside
Friday, June 4, 2010 from 6am-10pm
Saturday, June 5, 2010 from 10am-10pm

Fair For ALL

The Fair will include its annual Book Fair, popular among book collectors and dealers, on Friday evening from 6-8 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. In addition to traditional carnival rides and games, the Fair will feature the Garden Gate (plant sale), a bake sale, and the Kids Fair (Saturday 10am-3pm). For a complete schedule, visit www.stpaulsriverside.org

For several generations, the Friday night opening of the Fair has been known informally as “first date night,” when young teenagers from the eastern part of Greenwich come to the fairgrounds to hang out and enjoy some wholesome fun with friends.

Fair For All is unique among area fairs in that all money raised supports third-party charities rather than the event’s sponsor. Every year, St. Paul’s donates 100 percent of the proceeds from the event to non-profit organizations, locally and around the world. In recent years, St. Paul’s has provided financial support to Greenwich area groups such as Neighbor To Neighbor, Kids In Crisis, St. Luke’s Lifeworks in Stamford., Family Centers’ The Den For Grieving Kids, and Greenwich Adult Care, and also contributed to relief efforts in response to the earthquake in Haiti, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean, and Hurricane Katrina.

This year, St. Paul’s has decided that funds raised above and beyond existing charitable contribution commitments will go to support the National Audubon Society in its response to the Gulf oil spill. “With St. Paul’s parishioners living primarily in the seaside neighborhoods of Riverside and Old Greenwich, we understand how important the health of the ocean is to the well-being of coastal communities,” said Rev. Jim Erwin, who recently joined St. Paul’s as curate. “Humans are the only creatures on earth who make conscious choices about the way we impact the world around us, and even though Riverside is more than a thousand miles away from the oil spill, we feel a responsibility to do what we can to help put right the environmental disaster unfolding in the Gulf.” With oil washing up on Louisiana beaches and seeping into the state’s vast wetlands, a growing number of National Audubon Society volunteers and staff members are rushing to the region, ready to help with wildlife rescue and clean-up, monitor the spread of the spill, and begin planning the long-term effort to restore Louisiana’s coast. Among the Audubon experts soon to be on the ground in the Gulf is Connecticut resident Erin O’Connell, a professional animal rehabilitator from Audubon Sharon. She will be tending to injured wildlife and participating in the cleansing process of oiled wildlife.

This year, the Fair will feature a National Audubon booth with information about its conversation activities. More information is available at www.stpaulsriverside.org.