An auction, a beer and wine section, and carnival games were some of the features at the Summer Start Up Community Festival.

The festival was sponsored by and held at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Sunday from noon to sunset.

A live auction started at 3 p.m., and auction items included a car donated by Pilson Auto Center, along with jewelry, campaign buttons, NASCAR collectibles and a stainless steel fondue set.

Vaughn Russell and wife Judy Russell, both retired auctioneers, volunteered to help run the auction.

Vaughn Russell said the auction consisted of donated items from people inside and outside of the church.

“One little girl donated her bike, who doesn’t belong to the church,” he said. “She just has a good heart.”

The festival also included a Beer and Wine Garden, where attendees of the garden were served alcohol as they sat at tables set with flower center pieces and red and white plaid tablecloths.

Volunteer Chris Beckman said Roc’s Blackfront helped sponsor the liquor license so the volunteers would be able to serve alcohol to the attendees.

Beckman helped run the Beer and Wine Garden, and she served as a bouncer at one point.

“Everyone is very considerate. It’s not a rowdy crowd, just a small social gathering,” she said.

The festival also had carnival games, which included a dunk tank, Bingo, Plinko, basketball roulette and a cake walk.

Lynette Drake, coordinator of the festival, said the cake walk was sponsored by the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The cake walk booth consisted of numbers placed on the booth table along with a numbered spinning wheel.

“You stand at a number, you put a quarter on a number, and if the wheel lands on your number, you win a cake,” Drake said.

Knights of Columbus of the Newman Catholic Center ran the basketball roulette, said Drake.

Basketball roulette is a game where a ball is thrown into a hoop and lands onto a large roulette wheel while players bet quarters on which slot the ball will land.

“You can either double, five times or ten times your money if (the ball) lands on your slot,” Drake said.

Eastern alumnus Eric Wilber attended the Beer and Wine Garden and basketball roulette, and he said he enjoyed the festival last year as well as this year.

“I feel it’s a great time with your friends. You get lots of good food, and you get to have a good time,” Wilber said.

All of the proceeds of the festival go to church maintenance and the church’s charitable programs.

Judy Russell said other than raising money for the church, the congregation received other benefits from the festival.

“Now we got to the point where we own some of our tents. We got to the point where we own some of the games that were made by parishioners,” she said.

John Titus, pastor of St. Charles Church, said the idea of having a festival came because other local parishes have picnics and festivals, and the church decided to have an event where everyone in Charleston could come.

“It’s a wonderful way to bond with your neighbors, to get to know people a little better and to have fun. It’s not really about making a lot of money, it’s just to kind of spend time together,” Titus said.

Alesha Bailey can be reached at 581-7942 or [email protected]