The following are the most commonly asked questions of the Festival Committee. 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 via the Contact Us page.
We've been frying our famous fish for nearly 70 years. It's always been the same fish, in the same batter, in the same breading and in the same frying oil. Occasionally our vendor will change suppliers, or a supplier will go out of business. When that's the case, we find another supplier of Atlantic Cod. No matter what, rest assured that you'll get the exact same fish that you've come to love at St. Christopher.
We do not provide booth space for outside vendors, exhibitors or groups to market their material or sell their products or services.
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, Fruit Basket Wheel or are buying Pull-Tab tickets. We also do not allow any person under the age of eighteen into the Monte Carlo room under any circumstances. We employ Speedway Police Officers to patrol 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.
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 (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 are encouraged to 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 and others. We have made our best efforts to provide ample gaming options for young and old alike.
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.
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 Contact page for information on finding the festival and the High School parking lot.
For a number of reasons, including safety, security and a pleasant atmosphere. 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.
Furthermore, 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. Wouldn't a frosty Lemon Shake-Up or ice cold soda quench your July thirst better anyway?!?
The festival committee does not recommend that parents let their kids attend this event, or 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 uniformed 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.
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.
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.
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, we have a readily available ATM in our Dining Room (school cafeteria).
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.
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 over 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 – some of the General Chairman haven't 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 scientist" to scale our 300-gallon recipes down to something that could be made at home anyway!
We do (well, most of it)! It’s quite a chore to prepare 4,000 pounds of Atlantic Cod and hundreds of gallons of pork barbecue and Coney sauce – but we’ve been pulling it off for over 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 flash-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 a few squirts of some 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 Filipino Cuisine is masterfully created, cooked and served by our very own Filipino families; 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!
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 Bingo 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; the replacement of many sidewalks on property; and the replacement of the carpet in the school.
We have also upgraded electrical service in the school, the parish offices, the bus garage and the kitchen. A few years ago, 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 benefits from the festival proceeds, and we thank the central Indiana community for their continued support. We also thank Mr. Quinnette, the head of parish maintenance, for making all of these improvements a reality.
Liability.
You may contact all of us directly via the Contact Us page. We appreciate your comments, praise and constructive criticism!
