Frequently Asked Questions

Following are the most commonly asked questions of the Festival Chairmen. We have tried to answer them as candidly and clearly as possible. If you have a question that is not answered below, please send an e-mail to Tom Edwards via the Contact Us page.

We have also addressed some of the survey responses that have been submitted so far, and we will continue to do so as we see fit. Thank you for your help!

1. Did you change the fish?

Nope, and if you had some in 2007, you experienced that delicious flavor first hand!

2. I would like to set up a booth at your festival to market or sell my products or services. Do you have booth space available?

St. Christopher Church has always held the belief that the festival should be organized and operated solely by our Parishioners. We obviously do not operate the carnival rides due to liability and expenses, so we contract that portion of the event to Poor Jack Amusements. We also outsource other services that would not be feasible or economical for the Parish to maintain in-house (i.e. The Website, Tents, Sanitation Facilities, Rented Amusements and Costumes, and Wholesale Food Products). Everything else is done entirely in-house by our own hands.

With this being said, we do not allow outside vendors, exhibitors or groups to market their material or sell their products or services on our premises unless they are sponsoring the festival via cash donations or raffle prize gifts AND they return 100% of their profits generated from our event to St. Christopher Church.

Our event is for the community of St. Christopher Church and the greater Indianapolis area. It is a charity event held also to generate revenue to upgrade and maintain our buildings and grounds. If we were a carnival, fair or other bazaar we would be more receptive to selling booth space, but we are simply not set up for that purpose. However, we thank you for your interest in our event and wish you the best of luck at other venues.

3. Your festival has so much gambling. Isn’t that illegal, or at least “shady”?

Not at all. Our gambling (which is referred to as “charity gaming”) is regulated and monitored by the Indiana Gaming Commission's Charity Gaming Division. We apply for and purchase a Festival License each and every year in order to operate the Raffles, Bingo, Wheel Games and Casino-Style games at the event. Our gaming is also monitored and regulated by our Festival Committee, which is educated on the Charity Gaming rules and laws of this state. We try our best to ensure that no persons under the age of eighteen are playing Bingo, Horse Race, Stuffed Animal Wheel, Fruit Basket Wheel or buying Pull-Tab tickets. We also do not allow any person under the age of eighteen into the Monte Carlo room under any circumstances (except for festival wait staff, which is permitted by law). We provide plain-clothed security as well as Speedway Police Officers in and around our gaming areas to ensure security and fair play. Should you have any further questions about our gaming, please contact the Gaming Chairman via the Contact Us page.

4. What's the difference between the Wheel Games (Stuffed Animals, Fruit Baskets, Horse Race) and the Carnival Games (Goldfish, Ring Toss, Plinko)?

According to the Indiana Gaming Commission's Charity Gaming laws, no person under the age of eighteen may play any game of chance at a Charity Gaming Event. A game of chance may be a wheel game (Stuffed Animals, Fruit Baskets or Horse Race), Bingo, a raffle or any casino-style game (anything in our Monte Carlo) where the player bets money and has no way of controlling the outcome of the game.

However, persons under the age of eighteen may play the "games of skill" (where the player’s abilities determine the outcome of the game) in our Carnival Game area on the northeast lawn – games like Goldfish, Ring Toss, Plinko, Putt-Putt, Bowling and others. We have made our best efforts to provide ample gaming options for young and old alike.

5. Is your festival accessible to persons with disabilities?

Yes and no. Our campus is nearly 70 years old, with some of our festival buildings being in their 50s. Over the years, the parish has added accessibility to many areas of our campus (using festival proceeds). Currently, the only area that is 100% inaccessible to our guests in wheelchairs or with severe walking disabilities is the indoor dining room, which is located in the basement of the school building. Unfortunately, there is no economical way to make this facility accessible, but our carry-out line and our outdoor food tent are both accessible. The Monte Carlo has a wheelchair access ramp on the west side and some of the games have been lowered to seating height for our guests who prefer to sit. We apologize for any inconvenience, but we do our best to accommodate everyone.

6. There is never anywhere to park around your festival. How am I supposed to get there?

We have a shuttle that runs continuously from the Speedway High School to the festival, beginning 30 minutes prior to the start of the festival and ending once everyone has been taken back to their vehicles (within reason). The parking lot at the High School is expansive and this service allows everyone easy access to the festivities. Please visit the Locating the Festival page for information on finding the festival and the High School parking lot.

7. Why don't you serve alcohol at your festival?

For a number of reasons. We like to think of our festival as a safe and friendly environment for entire families to enjoy together. While many people enjoy beer and liquor, and it can generate great profits for our event, we have maintained our belief that the event will remain a more pleasant experience for everyone without it. Secondly, a significant amount of liability is placed upon the church when serving adult beverages, and since our event is run completely by volunteers, we try not to put them into any compromising situations. We also simply aren't interested in applying and paying for a temporary liquor license. Wouldn't a frosty Christopher's Punch or ice cold Pepsi quench your July thirst better anyway?!?

8. Is your festival safe for my kids to attend alone?

The festival committee does not recommend that parents let their kids attend this event, let alone any public event, alone or without some adult supervision. While we do not serve alcohol, we regulate the gaming to those over eighteen years of age, and we have both plain-clothed and uniformed security and police officers on property at all times – we cannot prevent all mischief. Overall, our festival has a record of safety and security, but with the changing times we do not encourage children to be left alone at our event, or any other public event.

9. I hear that you are always in need for volunteers for your festival. I am not Catholic, and do not go to St. Christopher, but could you use my help?

In a Parish of 6,500 members, we are nearly able to fill all 1,000 volunteer slots, with a handfull remaining open each year. However, since our festival is governed by the Indiana Gaming Commission’s Charity Gaming Division, all Operators and Workers of the gaming portions of our event must be members of our Parish. Other positions in food & beverage and grounds areas are either manned by families, groups or other ministries, but could always use extra help. Non-members of our Parish are welcome to sign up for any area that is in no way related to gambling or other charity gaming. Just make sure you find time to enjoy the festival yourself, too! Visit the Contact Us page and send a note to the Volunteer Coordinator to sign up.

10. What are the odds of winning your raffles?

The odds vary on the Traditional Raffle, since we have no idea how many tickets will be sold before the drawing is held. Each ticket is worth one chance, and as such, the odds are 1:xxx, where “xxx” is the number of entries sold. The more tickets you buy the more chances you have to win the Traditional Raffle.

Our raffles are governed strictly by the Indiana Gaming Commission.

11. What does it cost to gain entry to your festival?

Our event has no “gate admission.” Each area of the festival is independent and you pay only for what you want. The rides require tickets, which may be purchased at a discount until 4:00pm on Thursday of festival week. Carnival games require tickets, which may be purchased at the tent by the carnival games. Food is paid for in cash only, at the point of sale. Casino-style gaming is played by purchasing chips, and any winnings are paid out in cash by the Casino Office. Outdoor wheel games are played with cash only. Bingo games are paid for in cash only, per game.

12. Why don’t you accept Credit Cards?

Because it would cost us a significant amount of money in fees. Banks charge fees, sometimes substantial, to make Credit Card or ATM transactions. We would also have to invest in Point-of-Sale systems and/or stand-alone credit card processors in order to accurately track our cash vs. credit sales. If a bank or other financial organization were interested in loaning us the hardware/software and waive all fees, we would be more than willing to advance our sales technology, but we simply cannot justify the expense of it on our own. Besides, our good friends at Chase Bank are across the street and have a readily available ATM.

13. Why don’t you sell your raffle tickets and merchandise online?

Due to charity gaming and internet gambling laws and regulations, we can not sell Raffle Tickets via our website. Otherwise, eCommerce costs simply aren't justified just to sell t-shirts.

14. Can I get a copy of any of your festival’s recipes?

Unfortunately, no. We have used the same recipes for our fish breading, our Coney sauce, our pork barbecue, our macaroni and cheese, our slaw, our beans, our deviled eggs and many other dishes since the festival’s inception 70 years ago. These recipes are tightly guarded secrets and are kept in the church safe until festival cooking time comes around each year. There are only a handful of people who have even seen the recipes – not even all of the General Chairman have seen them! With this being said, we wish to keep our secrets…well, secret, and as such we do not share or publish our recipes. Heck, it would take a rocket surgeon to scale our 300-gallon recipes down to something that could be made at home anyway!

15. Who makes all of your food?

We do (well, most of it)! It’s quite a chore to prepare 4,000 pounds of Icelandic Cod and hundreds of gallons of pork barbecue and Coney sauce – but we’ve been pulling it off for 70 years. Our “fish” process is quite impressive: we begin by unloading all 4,000 pounds of fish from the freezer truck, allow it to thaw in a controlled environment, then have a team of volunteers that batter it, bread it, rack it up and get it re-frozen before it ever reaches a temperature danger zone.

The barbecue and Coney sauce is made two weeks prior to festival, in one day! We start at seven AM by cooking the pork loins, then hand-pull all 200 pounds of it. Others are mixing giant vats of our secret homemade barbecue sauce and Coney sauce on the stoves. The pork and sauce is combined and hand-mixed, with some additional secret ingredients, and then it is all deep-frozen in gallon buckets until it’s time to be served.

We modify our baked beans with some secret ingredients; we hand-stuff every last deviled egg that we sell; our macaroni and cheese is baked each morning; our pork chops are marinated overnight and grilled by our volunteers; many of our desserts are made by Parishioners (but our wonderful pies are from Gray Brothers Cafeteria in Mooresville); and we even make the tartar sauce that is served in the indoor dining room!

16. What are festival profits used for?

We’re a not-for-profit organization, so let’s call them proceeds! Anyway, all proceeds brought in by the festival and our Friday night Bingos go toward the upgrading, replacement, maintenance and renovation of our parish buildings and grounds. In recent years, festival proceeds have paid for first-time-ever air conditioning in our school classrooms and our parish activity rooms; replacement HVAC in the school cafeteria/Bingo Hall; lightning and surge protection on all campus buildings; the re-waterproofing of our tunnel; and the replacement of many sidewalks on property. We have also upgraded electrical service in the school, the parish offices, the bus garage and the kitchen. Most recently, we renovated the school kitchen to bring it up to current code and to make it more efficient for both school lunches and the festival. Everyone in the St. Christopher Community, and those in our neighborhood, benefit from the festival proceeds, and we thank the central Indiana community for their continued support.

17. Why do you not offer childcare for volunteers or guests?

We would have to ensure that every nursery worker has passed the Safe Sitter course and that they are fit to watch your children. There is also a lot of liability placed on the church when caring for someone else’s children. There are many decent child care facilities and at-home babysitters in the Indy area, and we encourage you to locate a responsible one for your children.

18. Who should I contact regarding...

• Casino-Style & Wheel Games: Dave Montgomery
• Food & Beverage: A.J. Ploughe
• Entertainment, Marketing & Facilities: Tom Edwards
• General Comments or Complaints: Tom Edwards
• Volunteering: Doug Ponsler

You may contact all of us directly via the Contact Us page. We appreciate your comments, praise and constructive criticism!