Since the 1880s, St. Mary of Sorrows Church in Fairfax has been
celebrating Labor Day with a parish picnic. When the pandemic hit last year,
planners knew they had to do something to keep the tradition alive.
“Father (James S.) Barkett reached out to the Knights of Columbus
and said, ‘Look, we just can’t let this thing fall apart and not do anything,’
” said Mike Mannion, one of the chicken barbecue organizers. “So really, with
about three or four weeks of planning last year, the Knights of Columbus took over
this thing that is normally run by the parish with hundreds of volunteers and
(made) it a drive-thru.”
This year, pandemic precautions once again prevented the parish
from hosting the picnic, but the drive-thru continued in the parking lot of the
historic St. Mary church Sept. 6. Knights barbecued 600 chickens and many ears
of corn, volunteers packed the meals and Boy Scouts and American Heritage Girls
carried the boxes to the cars of hungry parishioners.
Father Barkett, pastor, endorsed the meal. “It’s better than
anywhere else you would get chicken around here.”
