Centennial Year Church Events

August 21, 2005 -   SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church held her Centennial Anniversary Picnic at Seven Acres at the intersection of Kamm and Whitehead Avenues in South River, New Jersey. The event was open to parishioners from our Church, parishioners from sister Churches in our Diocese, and to the non-Orthodox community as a whole. Conservatively estimated, those in attendance numbered at least 250 people. The Sunday morning of the picnic dawned overcast and nondescript with a threat of thundershowers. However, by high noon, the clouds had given way to a sultry day - hot and humid with highs in the mid-90's - perhaps the last gasp temperature-wise of a very hot Summer 2005. Tents had been erected days before to guarantee that the event would be "rain or shine". No rain was in sight but the tents provided welcome shelter to those who sought respite from the searing sun. An occasional breeze provided relief as well. Food, drink, games, good times, and fellowship - all were in abundance at our annual picnic in this, by the Grace of God, our one hundredth year. In the report that follows below, excess wordage has been jettisoned in favor of allowing a more-than-ample number of photos to tell the story. The photos are presented in no order of preference other than the chronologic order in which they were taken. They show hard-working parishioners and appreciative guests - both of whom combined to make this Centennial Picnic a huge success and one to remember! The reader is encouraged to scroll down the entire page of this photoreport - the best photos have been saved for last! Enjoy!

Above left, area clergy, including V. Rev. Stavros Roussos (left) of St. Euphrosyne Orthodox Church on Whitehead Avenue in South River, joined Rev. Garretson and our parishioners at the picnic.

Below, a five-piece band circulated on the picnic grounds and provided entertainment for the guests throughout the afternoon.

Meredith Garretson was the first to try out the dunk tank on the picnic grounds. Were this a day in December this activity would be considered unwise, however, given the extreme temperatures of the day, these participants in the dunk tank were the smartest and coolest at the picnic! Above and below (read left to right), four sequential photos capture Meredith gracefully yielding to gravity.

Above right, V. Rev. Joseph Lickwar, Rector of SS. Peter and Paul Orthodox Church in Jersey City, New Jersey, shares a moment with Rev. Garretson and a parishioner.

Above left, Jay Pelleriti (left) and Hank Dziemian were co-chairmen of the Centennial Anniversary Picnic. Below, Jay Pelleriti is shown with his daughter and grand-daughter.

In photo below left, left to right are Robert Kornafel, V. Rev. David Vernak of Christ the Saviour Orthodox Church in Paramus, New Jersey, and V. Rev. Lickwar. Below right, Rev. Garretson greets the acting rector of Assumption of the Holy Virgin Orthodox Church in Clifton, New Jersey, Rev. Stephen Evanina, and his family.

One of the much-anticipated events of the picnic was the appearance of Rev. Garretson at the dunk tank. As he had promised, Rev. Garretson is shown above ascending to the seat perched above the tank.

In the sequence of four photos above (reading left to right and top to bottom), Rev. Garretson takes a cooling dip. Below, he emerges from the tank for the first of many times - wet, cool, and refreshed!

Rev. Garretson's participation at the dunk tank event drew a crowd of volunteers anxious to test their pitching arms. Above left, Rev. Garretson smiles as Alexis Steffaro takes a warm-up toss. Above right, her fastball turned out to be so ferocious that we see Father David entering the tank as a foregone conclusion even before Alexis releases the ball! Below, members of the Berezniak family, the Horsky family, and others line up to test their pitching prowess.

One technical note regarding the photos above and below. Photos taken at a shutter speed of 1/60th second generally stop most reasonable relative motion. These photos were taken at 1/250 second which is four times as fast and should stop the action of all but speeding bullets. However, if you look carefully at these photos, you see balls and hands blurring in mid-air - a measure of the seriousness and good-natured ferocity with which these seasoned pitchers attempted to hit their target!

Meet one Mary Fritz, above left. It had been rumored for quite some time that Mary's curve ball did not have as much snap as it used to and that she was taking something off her 95 mph fastball of old! Father David thought that he was home free as Mary's first pitch (above left) missed, however, to everyone's surprise, she took out something resembling a baseball bat (above right) with which she scored a direct hit on the dunk tank target. Father David deserves a "Sportsman of the Year" award for his participation at this picnic event. All in good fun!

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