Celebrating Mount St. Francis
A Tradition of Serving Spiritual Needs

The third annual MountFest, an Experience of Kentuckiana, will be held on Saturday, June 2, from 2pm to 8pm, at Mount St. Francis in southern Indiana. Benefiting the Retreat Assistance Fund, this year’s event is dedicated to Br. Bob Baxter OFM Conv. who passed away in March after serving for many years as Director of Retreats at the Mount.

Admission is free, and guests will have a chance to sample food and beverages from the region’s restaurants, wineries, and brewers. Local artists and artisans will exhibit their work, from paintings and pottery to other arts, crafts, and specialty items. The Todd Hildreth Trio and The Wildflower Chronicles will provide live music. And once again, the always-popular Terri’s Treasures features an eclectic array of second-hand and slightly-used articles for sale.

The Franciscan spirit of hospitality is a key ingredient of our retreat centers. Br. Bob, a Conventual Franciscan Friar, founded the Retreat Assistance Fund to ensure that all who seek to take part in the Mount’s retreat offerings may do so, regardless of their financial circumstances.

Over the past few years, the Retreat Assistance Fund has underwritten retreat fees for area high school students, sponsored overnight retreats for homeless people, and helped others who need financial assistance to attend a retreat where they may experience spiritual enrichment and the beauty of the surrounding 400-acre nature sanctuary.

For more than 100 years, Mount St. Francis has served the spiritual needs of the region’s youth and adults. From the beginning, the Franciscan Friars and their neighbors and friends have helped support this work. Starting in the 1920s, an annual picnic helped raise money for the retreat programs. In 2015, the traditional picnic was transformed into a celebration of local culture: MountFest.

Mount St. Francis is located at the junction of US Highway 150 and Paoli Pike in Floyds Knobs.