Happy 8 a.m.
This is such a bad decision: going to spin class on a day when I head to my best friends’ new apartment to play all night. It’s 8 a.m. I need to take a nap when I get home, but I’m planning on stopping off at the township library to grab a book or two about the history of intriguing Horsham, PA. I’m writing an article about a real estate firm making renovations on a historical site, and I would really like to get a sense of what the place was like in it’s heyday…because now, it’s littered with beer bottles and graffitified (I’m not trying to pretend that graffitified is a word). I got this idea from an article Bill Marimow shared with me. If the article turns out the way I want, maybe I’ll pass it on to him. If it’s not what I want, but passable, I’ll post it here.
Let’s play paintball.
The paintball shed at the annual Holy Martyrs Church carnival looks different from the average game at the fair. It’s a wooden shed with no flashing lights, save a red emergency light steadily turning and flashing on the roof.
Observers hear only the “pows” and the “dings” of small, paint-filled balls smacking into targets, instead of the music and computer-generated sounds they would hear at the standard toss ’em, pop ’em and squirt ’em games at traveling carnivals. Those games are across the parking lot.
Rustic and original, the paintball game rounds out a hometown section of the fair, where church volunteers manage small carnival games and local restaurant workers serve festive cuisine like hamburgers and ice cream.
“We set up the garage and hang our beloved collection of targets, which we selected over the years,” volunteer John O’Brien said Tuesday, the carnival’s opening night. “And man, the kids love to shoot paint balls.”
“Yes they do!” said his co-volunteer Delores Serianni, who has been working at the paintball booth for about eight years.
Hanging from the wooden rafters and splattered with greenish-yellow paint are street signs — a stop sign, library sign, a no parking sign — a firefighter’s boot, a Direct TV satellite dish and a fire alarm bell.
Those who want to test their aim pay $1 for five shots and $5 for 30.
Nine-and-a-half-year-old Colin Quinn had already loaded and pumped his paintball gun. He was aiming for the perfect target.
“Hit one of those lights that’s hanging,” O’Brien said. “That will give you a good ding.”
Quinn aimed and fired, then turned around to share his content after hearing the gratifying ding.
“I wasn’t sure if I hit the target, but I was sure when I heard a bang and I saw it move,” Quinn said.
The carnival at Holy Martyrs Church in Oreland runs through Saturday evening. Hours are 6 to 10 p.m. until Friday night, and 3 to 10 p.m. on Saturday.
“We come every year. It seems like it gets bigger and bigger each year,” said Colin’s mother, Vickie Quinn, of Oreland.
In addition to the rides and games there is music, and dinners donated by a different restaurant each night.
Through Friday, visitors can pay $10 for a meal donated by a restaurant that is either local or has a relationship with the parish, said Donna DeMarco, a parishioner who has been managing the carnival’s food operations since 2004.
Tuesday night featured Halligan’s Pub. Other restaurants represented on the menu will be O’Towne Tavern on Wednesday, Winnie’s Le Bus on Thursday and Roberto’s Trattoria on Friday.
A filet mignon dinner courtesy of Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar will cost $12 per meal on Saturday.
“It includes a nice meal, drink and desert. You can’t beat it,” DeMarco said.
One of the most popular attractions each year is a dunk tank on Friday and Saturday nights, Pastor Mike Ryan said.
“Our principal sat in it one year and drew a big crowd,” he said.
Over at a play-till-you-win Winnie the Pooh-themed game, Briana Vetter, 11, and Megan McGrath, 12, were compensating for a slightly smaller-than-usual turnout with their own energetic enthusiasm.
“We love the church and it’s for a good cause,” Vetter said. “And Father Ryan is a very nice person.”
