St. Robert Fair Marks 40 Years in Shorewood

St. Robert Parish celebrated its centennial, and 40 years of its community fair in Shorewood this weekend, and traffic was steady, with no cover charge.

As the Springsteen cover band belted out “Everybody’s Got a Hungry Heart,” food sales of everything from salmon to bratwurst were going strong.

"It's a taste of real Americana" as Shorewoodian Anne Leplae puts it, who encourages her French interns at the Alliance Francaise to come so see things "that just typify what you might find in summer anywhere in America — minnow races, shooting targets, rummage sales, music and roasted corn on the cob. And beer."

Leplae is on the mark on a lot of those, as time seems to have stopped halfway through the 40 years, as happy, face-painted children gathered in clutches, counting their tickets needed for the bounce house or ice cream.

The opening of the fair Saturday, was well attended, with a steady stream of locals — whether members of the St. Robert's parish, school system, or not — and folks from the surrounding area snapping up the parking spaces for a four-block radius. Most locals make it a ritual to bring the family every year, but for some this year was a first — drawn by attractions like the rummage sale, book and craft sale, food, games, and music.

"There are quirky things on the high and low-end in the rummage sale," said one shopper.

One woman found out about the fair this morning by Googling "rummage sales," and brought along her grandnephew, Cole. Cole found an antique adding machine that was fun to play with while she shopped.

Seth Bobrow, a Shorewood High School junior, found a new favorite toy at the rummage sale, a pogo stick, which he demonstrated enthusiastically while his friend tried to haggle down the price of a large desk chair.

Speaking of sticks, there are few events where sending the kids (tweens, young adults) without parents is OK to do, and the St. Robert’s Fair is one of them. It has on-site security and limited options for trouble. Though, some seem able to find it, like these Dominican High Schoolers and St. Robert’s graduates Steve and Jerome Linn, who were out to torture a little brother and cousins with a stick in the bounce house. They were quickly bounced, themselves, by the person carefully checking for tickets and shoe removal at the entrance.

Local resident and father of two children in the Shorewood schools, Kevin Tissot, while amicably assessing the limited dining options for a vegan non-drinker, enjoyed the atmosphere and “ability to just kind of turn off your mind for a while.

“It’s the minnow races that keep us coming back. And the book sale, though I’ve yet to read the books I got last year, always has interesting things.”

This weekend, the St. Robert's Fair was a great place to gather, acclimate your taste buds to summer fare and your olfactories to the delicious scent of charcoal briquettes; see friendly faces, and relax without breaking the bank.