Brandon Twp.- Full-term babies are born after nine months of gestation. This September, St. Anne Church will mark the 50th anniversary of its birth’after nine months of events leading up to it.
‘We hope everyone enjoys what we put together,? said Adele Ferguson, chairperson for St. Anne’s 50th anniversary committee. ‘We tried to have a wide range to appeal to all ages.?
The celebration kicks off this Saturday, Jan. 27, with comedian Craig Tornquist and local magician Eric Lott performing a family friendly show from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Brandon High School Performing Arts Center, 1025 S. Ortonville Road. Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door for adults and $5 in advance for persons 18 and under, or $6 at the door. All proceeds benefit the St. Anne’s Youth Ministry mission trip.
Next month, the choir from The Church of the Madonna in Detroit will perform at 4 p.m., Feb. 11, at St. Anne Church, 825 S. Ortonville Road. The 20-25 member choir is ‘very good,? and is singing before Pope Benedict XVI in April.
Actor Frank Runyeon will reenact scenes from the Bible from 7-9 p.m., March 1. The show’s venue is currently slated for St. Anne, but may change to the BHS PAC. Runyeon has starred in the soap operas, Santa Barbara, As the World Turns, General Hospital, and Another World, including a role as a priest. Tickets are $5 in advance or $6 at the door.
By Easter, a display of poems, artwork and essays by catechism students from first grade through high school and describing what heaven is to them, will be displayed in Hardy Hall.
A vintage fashion show and tea will be from 2-4:30 p.m., April 22, in Hardy Hall at St. Anne. Ferguson hopes to have between 50-60 outfits modeled by students from the Brandon High School Fashion Club, including wedding dresses and jewelry from the 1800s. Tickets are $5 in advance or $6 at the door if available.
In May, a handmade quilt made of 12-by-12 squares and decorated with scenes from the Bible will be at the church to be signed by parishioners, after which it will be permanently displayed at St. Anne’s.
In July and August, parishioners can have their picture taken for the church directory.
From July 14-Sept. 8, there will be a Novena, a special prayer that normally lasts nine days, but in this case will last nine weeks, after communion at Mass each week, with a different prayer each week.
The celebration will wrap up the third weekend in September, with a Sock Hop from 7:30 p.m.- 11 p.m., Sept. 15, at St. Anne’s, that will include a disc jockey and an ice cream social (cost is a pair of socks to be donated to the Ortonville Community Emergency Fund) and followed by a mass the next day at 10:30 a.m. celebrated by a bishop from the Detroit Archdiocese.
‘I’m excited about this,? Ferguson said. ‘It’s going to be an incredible year and we hope the church will be here another 50.?