strichard-krewelogoSt. Richard Catholic School is taking their annual auction up a notch this year, just in time for the Mardi Gras season.

The school’s inaugural Krewe de Cardinal Mardi Gras Ball takes place Friday, February 28 from 7pm to 11pm at Old Capitol Inn downtown. Ron Blaylock, a Fondren photographer whose children attend St. Richard, is co-chair of the event.

“When they asked if I would be a part of heading this up, I said only if we can step it up a notch,” he explained. “It’s always been nice, but it’s been a homegrown kind of thing for people directly involved with the school. I wanted something I would be able to invite friends to.”

For $75 per couple, attendees will get food, drink, access to the auction and live music. Already on board are Hal & Mal’s, La Finestra, The Islander, Chefs Jesse Houston, and Jason Smith, Table 100, Fondren Public, Cathead Vodka, Campbell’s Bakery, Cake Diva, Briarwood Wine and Spirits and Capital City Beverage. DJ Young Venom will spin and the Southern Komfort Brass Band will bring a New Orleans brass band performance. Watercolorist Wyatt Waters will serve as grand marshal.

Blaylock said the ball is a fun party for a great cause and adds, “You can’t go out with a date for under $75.”

Money raised during the Krewe de Cardinal Ball will benefit St. Richard School’s general fund, help pay off recent renovation debt, purchase new technology and assist in scholarship funding.

Celebrating a ‘Family School’

Sunday, January 26, St. Richard Catholic School celebrates a milestone – 60 years — with a celebration during St. Richard Catholic Church’s morning mass.

A Whole Schools Initiative model school (the only non-public one in Mississippi), St. Richard is state accredited but non-reliant on state funding. The school can also boast a 27% minority enrollment, one of the highest in the tri county area for a non-public school. Their full special education program for ages 5-21 is the only in the state in the private school system.

Known for years for their world-class education, Blaylock said St. Richard is growing into the community. “Our Fourth of July celebration started as this small thing and now, there’s a grove-like environment where people from the neighborhood bring tents,” he explained. “There’s food and music and pony rides and, at dark, fireworks,” he explains. “We need to do more things like that that are fun, that get people involved and that raise awareness of school and the neighborhood.”

Their tucked away location (off Northside Drive)keeps them off the radar, but Blaylock believes more people need to know about St. Richard. He calls it an old school, small town environment. “Things like (the Krewe de Cardinal ball) really help to raise that awareness of what an inviting and wonderful place it is.”

Beginning January 28, an online auction with a curated selection will be up for bid until a couple of days before the ball. For that auction, tickets to the ball or information on the school, visit krewedc.com.