Aviston’s St. Francis Parish Picnic & Festival

It has been three years since I started this review, and I feel like it deserves to be completed and posted. The Aviston St. Francis de Assisi Parish Picnic and Festival has become a summer annual tradition for my partner’s family for many years. We travel the 4.5 hours from Chicago to the rural town just to take it all in.
Here’s how it works:
–Buy your dinner ticket (just $ 9 for all-​you-​can-​eat «Thanksgiving-​eque» dinner) which runs from 3:30 until 8 pm. They’re so organized that you can also get carry-​out between the hours of 3 – 7 pm. The picnic kicks off first with an old school Polka musician playing tunes while you wait under a tent for your dinner ticket number to be called.
–Meanwhile, check out the Country Store pitched under a tent with handmade quilted items, pastries and vegetables for purchase.
–Once your number gets called, step into the Old School House building, downstairs into the cafeteria to choose one of the many pie slices made by local women. Place it at your seat to save your spot and get in the food line. Fill up your plate with a selection of delicious fried chicken, roast beef, green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cucumber salad, cole slaw and bread. Some of the freshest homemade dinners you’ll ever eat! I think the chickens are killed shortly before the picnic, just sayin’.
–After filling up on food for the evening, go directly to Kopff Field where wooden benches sit to play several rounds of $ 1 (per card for 4 rounds) Quilt Bingo, beginning at 6:30 pm. If you are the only round’s winner, you’ll earn a gorgeous homemade quilt made by ladies within the town. If it’s a tie, you used to earn a pair of white towels, but they recently switched it to WalMart gift cards. Just beware of all the chain smokers in the vicinity.
–Once you’re all Bingo-​ed (or smoked) out, step up to play Poker. Winners win a six pack of beer or southern Illinois’ own, Ski Soda (a citrus orange-​lemon soda similar to Squirt or Mountain Dew).
–If you get thirsty and aren’t very lucky at playing Poker, visit one of the several Beer Booths to drink your sorrows away (requires tickets to be purchased and sold by the cup or pitcher). There are also a tropical-​themed Margarita and a wine booth.
–For the kids, there’s several small carnival rides, games, basket raffles, and toys for purchase. This will easily keep them busy for hours, plus a field and playground to run around in are also nearby.
In the end, it’s all about walking out with a quilt in hand, having a good time, and supporting a small town in need of support. If you ask me, it has been worth driving from Chicago – even though we get the occasional, «You ain’t from ’round here, are ya?»