St. Joe's

Following a student Mass at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church today, Bishop Richard Joseph Malone toured St. Joe's and Notre Dame, meeting with students and faculty along the way.

At St. Joe's, his tour guide was Principal Karen Green; at Notre Dame, it was Principal Joe Scanlan. His aide Rev. Ryazard Biernat accompanied the tour.

As near as anybody could remember, it's been more than 20 years since a bishop came to Batavia to celebrate Mass and tour a Catholic school. Malone said in Maine, there were 20 schools in his diocese and he made a point of visiting each one at least once a year, but in the Buffalo Diocese there are 40 schools. It would be hard to maintain that annual schedule with so many schools, he said, but when a student asked him if he would come back next year, he said, "if you invite me I will."

Before he left St. Joe's, Principal Green gave Bishop Malone a plate of chocolate from Oliver's.

Bishop Richard Joseph Malone is visiting Batavia today. The bishop attended the student Mass at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church this morning, then went to St. Joe's School for lunch with students before a brief tour. He will tour Notre Dame High School this afternoon.

Press release:

Most Reverend Richard J. Malone of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo is scheduled to visit Batavia on Friday May 9th. The Bishop will celebrate Mass at 11 a.m. at St. Joseph Church with the students of both St. Joseph School and Notre Dame High School. Following Mass the Bishop will tour both schools.

The public is welcome to attend the mass at 11 a.m.

St. Joe's School in Batavia is organizing an assistance drive for the Baskin family following last night's massive fire at Baskin Livestock.

Electricity to the property was cut because of the fire and the school is primarily looking to make a food donation to the family, said Karen Green, principal of St. Joe's.

The daughter of Bill Baskin and Susan Blackburn attended St. Joe's.

“We are reaching out to the community to see if they can help  us in providing some food for the Baskin family," Green said. "They are without electricity, they have 100 50 employees, we would like to see if we can gather food together from area businesses and we will take them out to the Baskins around noon today.”

Green said volunteers from St. Joes would pick-up donations or donors could leave their contributions at St. Joe's at 2 Summit St. in Batavia. The school's phone number is (585) 343-6154.

Previously: Major fire causes severe damage to one of Genesee County's largest ag businesses

Lots of people and lots of fun once again for St. Joe's Parade and Lawn Fete in Batavia.

Below is a slide show of the parade. To purchase prints from this slide show, click here.

Below is a slide show of the lawn fate. To purchase prints from this slide show, click here.

St. Joe's Lawn Fete is going all day today. The annual parade is at 6:30 p.m. on East Main Street in Batavia.

By 9 a.m. the closest open parking space to St. Joe's was at least a block way in any direction.

Once inside the annual Super Mammoth Sale, it was pretty much wall-to-wall people.

By 9:05 a.m., the first bargain shoppers were hauling their treasures to their cars.

As always, you had to get their early and act quick to find the best deals.

After nine years, Kathy Stefani, of Batavia, will soon gallop into the sunset as organizer of the Super Mammoth Sale at St. Joseph School.

But she will be going out with a bang, as they say, because this year's sale is the biggest thus far and includes several new attractions.

The sale will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. -- with a 15-minute break for restocking at 12:30 p.m. -- at St. Joseph School, at 2 Summit St. in Batavia.

Here are some pics:

NEW: Car/Truck Room

Volunteer Jerry Fisk will be running the car/truck room, which will feature models and toys of various vehicle types from the oldies right up to Nascar.

The Baby Room

Paintings and prints

Artisan Doll Room

Showroom #1 (cafeteria) - stage

Showroom #1 (cafeteria) - main floor

Showroom #2 (gym)

Note: Because there is so much inventory this year, both showrooms will be restocked at 12:30 (in the past, this has only been done for showroom #1).

Other items for sale will include a "barely used" Wii system with two remote controls for only $100, four Elvis Presley albums, and a copy of The Beatles' very first album.

There will also be a tent outside featuring furniture, gardening equipment, grills, and other miscellaneous items.

All proceeds of the sale will benefit St. Joseph School. For more information, call Stefani at 344-2701.

Press release:

This year’s Super Mammoth Sale at St. Joe's is expected to be the largest event to date and will also be the last sale organized by longtime volunteer Kathy Stefani. The event, dubbed WNY’s largest indoor garage sale, is in its 9th year and has raised more than $100,000 for Catholic education. Earlier this year, a tearful Stefani told officials at St. Joseph School that she will retire at the conclusion of this year’s sale saying she had been “Called to spend more time with her family.”

In John 6:12, disciples were told to “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost,” and in that fashion, Stefani has turned others’ junk into treasure for the school. Her yearly work includes collecting, storing, cleaning and selling hundreds of thousands of donated items that are stored at seven different sites. Nearly 150 volunteers are utilized, including two dozen cashiers for the one-day sale.

The event has grown from humble roots when Stefani held a community garage sale to benefit St. Anthony’s Church in Batavia in 2005. It has grown every year since and last year raised more than $29,000, with all proceeds benefiting St. Joe’s.

This year’s event will, of course, include stalwart items like antiques, books, artwork, furniture and household goods but in addition, there will be over 250 die-cast cars and trucks for sale, many of them still in their original boxes. The donation that came from a parishioner who had lost her husband and wanted to the see the collection sold for a good cause.

“Kathy does a remarkable job and is irreplaceable,” said Karen Green, the school’s principal. “She has poured her heart and soul into this event and writes personal thank you notes to everyone that donates an item. She has made Mammoth one of our top fund-raisers and we will be hard-pressed to find a successor.”

The Super Mammoth will be held from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 6th at the school located at the corner of Main and Summit streets in Batavia. The doors will be closed from 12:30-12:45 p.m. and the shelves will be restocked. There will also be a chicken BBQ or BBQ ribs available for purchase. For more information call 585.343.6154.

This year's St. Joe's Lawn Fete looked just as popular as ever Friday, with hundreds of people turning out for rides, games, food and live music.

The carnival continues today.

To purchase prints of these photos and the ones in the slide show below, click here.

If are unable to view the slide show, click here.

There was a big turn out today at St. Joe's for Batavia's Irish Afternoon, featuring music by Penny Whisky and entertainment by the McMahon Irish Dancers (unfortunately, I missed the dancers).

St. Joe's hosted its 52nd annual Popcorn Ball on Saturday night, with the music of Rochester-based Up 2 Somethin’, featuring local bass player Rickey Ellis.

The summer doesn't officially begin in Batavia until the Resurrection Parish Lawn Fete and Parade.  The weather was near perfect yesterday and a large crowd turned out for the fun and the food.

Another 50 or so pictures after the jump.

The annual St. Joe's Mammoth Sale was apparently another huge success. One person told me people were lining up before 8 a.m. (doors opened at 9 a.m.) and it was wall-to-wall bargain hunters for the first hour or so (crowds had thinned out quite a bit by the time I got there after 2 p.m., but there were still bargains available and plenty of people looking for both the useful and the merely interesting used items.

Last night was the annual Lawn Fete at St. Joe's -- a good turn out and lots of laughter and smiles, as always.

More pictures after the jump: