Keeping the tradition alive

Kathy Paesano painted lawn signs in her backyard last week to help prepare for the annual St. Agnes Mothers’ Club Garden Potpourri. Many mothers work together to create and sell hand-made crafts and food to raise money for the school.

Alex Costello/Herald

Tanya Prince worked on painting faces on some of the pumpkin signs to turn them into jack-o-lanterns.

Alex Costello/Herald

Many freshly painted American flag lawn signs were left out to dry in the sun.

Alex Costello/Herald

One of the first Garden Potpourris, from 1978. The events did well enough that the Mothers’ Club has been continuing the tradition for nearly 40 years.

Courtesy St. Agnes Mothers’ Club

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In the backyard of Kathy Paesano’s home, the paint flowed faster than the conversation.

A handful of mothers of St. Agnes Cathedral School students had gathered at Paesano’s home on Sept. 24 for their fourth painting party. Everything was on the table that day: baseballs painted for both Mets and Yankees fans, soccer balls for the RVC Soccer Club, pumpkins to celebrate the fall and a group of American flags. All were lawn signs that were designed and painted by hand by the moms.

The mothers were all working to create things that would be sold off at the St. Agnes Mothers’ Club annual Garden Potpourri on Oct. 3. The event is an annual fundraiser for the St. Agnes school that has been going on since the late 1970s.

Though the Garden Potpourri has grown since the 70s, there is still much that is the same. It’s still held in the garden of one of the Mothers’ Club members (this year at Colleen Guidarelli’s house at 45 South Marion Place). And everything that is sold is still hand-made by members of the club. In addition to the lawn signs, there will be decorated pumpkins (which can be personalized as well) and other crafts for sale. There will be fresh food from Panera Bread, Bialystok & Bloom and Greystone Deli. There will be flowers and seasonal decorations for sale to help ring in autumn, and live music to help enliven the atmosphere.

Much of the materials were donated from different members of the community. All of the food was donated to the Mothers’ Club, and the wood for the signs was cut by Angelo at Flaxman Unfinished Creations. The pumpkins were donated by Atlantic Nursery in Freeport.

“Without that kind of help from the community, this kind of event wouldn’t happen,” said Rory Murphy, one of the event’s organizers this year.

The Garden Potpourri has a storied history for the Mothers’ Club, going back to the late 1970s. Every year, the members of the Mothers’ Club — which number around 500 — work together to create the event.

“This has been months of hours and hours of these moms donating their time and talent,” Murphy said. The mothers often joked about how much work they put in creating things for the Garden Potpourri in comparison to the Fathers’ Club, which holds a golf outing and makes much more money.