A local church will be hosting a community festival to kick of the summer on Sunday.

The Summer Start-Up Festival will be hosted from noon to 5 p.m. at the St. Charles Borromeo Church, 921 Madison Ave.

Father John Titus said the festival was created to bring the community together.

“The big thing is always bringing people together, working together, cooperating and having something to invite other people to,” he said.

The festival will feature live music throughout the day by local musicians along with home-cooked food and games for the whole family.

“We have games for kids like toss games a basketball shoot game. We have a cake walk,” Titus said. “That’s one of the more popular games. Everything’s homemade.”

A pork chop lunch will be served at noon for $7 and snacks will be served throughout the rest of the festival.

Lynette Drake, the director of Health Services, said in an email that there will also be crafts, bags, a duck pond, a pop bottle ring toss, face painting, temporary tattoos and a water balloon bull’s-eye.

Titus said there will also be BINGO, from noon to 3 p.m., as well as a dunk tank.

“I shouldn’t encourage (it) because I’m going to spend an hour in the dunk tank,” Titus said.

Drake said people can win baskets, a quilt and cash prizes at the different raffles.

The auction will begin at 3 p.m. and wil have items such as a pool table and antiques.

Titus said he brought up the idea of having a community picnic when he joined the church about six years ago.

“Communities like Effingham, Teutopolis, Springfield, places where I’ve served in the past always had picnics, so I mentioned it at our parish council meeting,” he said.

Titus said he went with a group to check out bigger communities’ picnics to get ideas.

“People got excited about it,” he said. “ We began to make plans. The first year, people didn’t really quite know what it was, especially people who have lived here all their lives.”

The festival has grown every year but has had some setbacks, Titus said.

The first year, he said they planned to have the festival run past 5 p.m.

“Right on 5 o’clock Sunday evening, we had this torrential downpour,” Titus said. “Last year, it was so unbearably hot.”

He said he has high hopes for a large community turnout this year since the festival has continued to grow.

“We try to be good neighbors. We try to be part of the community,” Titus said. “We see this as a way of reaching out in the community and saying, ‘We’re having a party, come over.”

Amanda Wilkinson can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].