BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Doug Wiles loves the annual festival at his church, St. John Vianney Catholic Church, in Brookfield. 

“My favorite part of the festival is obviously the food. The food is just great,” Wiles said. 

The chicken dinner, though, is what Wiles said separates his church’s festival from all of the others. 

“I inevitably always buy one or two extras, so I get them home, put them in the freezer, and a couple, three weeks later I can bring them out and enjoy that chicken dinner once again,” Wiles said. 

The last time that chicken dinner, or any of the festival fun happened was nearly two years ago. Last year, the June festival was canceled because of the coronavirus. 

“It really was quite a blow,” said Father Edwin Kornath of St. John Vianney. 

Kornath said not having the festival in 2020 was really hard for more than just the church. 

“It was extremely hard because we had one of the early festivals in June, so it’s kind of the start of the summer season,” Kornath said. "People are eager to get outside and have fellowship and community."

Even though the church is open to hold mass in person, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is asking all of its churches to hold off on booking any festivals early in the year. 

That includes St. John Vianney’s which always happens two weekends after Memorial Day. 

“The archdiocese has asked us to not have any festivals or even to sign contracts until after July 1,” Kornath said. 

The church said it started to plan for the festival in February. With the guidelines to not book any vendors or advertise dates for a festival, it’s been tricky to plan. 

Kornath said it will happen, whenever it’s supposed to happen. 

“Hopefully one day we will have a festival perhaps in late summer or early fall, or if it be the will of God that we wait another year? Well, so be it. We’ll make it,” Kornath said. "We’ll make it.”

Wiles can’t wait for that day to come, whenever it may be.

“People are itching to get back together and socialize and gather,” Wiles said. “And, to catch up on what we’ve missed and who we’ve missed for over a year now."