Chris’s connection to St. Denis Parish goes back decades. He attended St. Denis School from kindergarten through sixth grade and has been a parishioner since 1973. His son is currently in sixth grade at CJF, and his two older sons attended PREP and the Haverford School District. Chris’s father, Vince Gorski, was a longtime co-chair of the Fair, serving from the 1970s through the 1990s — so it’s safe to say the Fair runs in the family.
Chris’s first experience working at the Fair was in the late 1970s at the Frisbee Booth, which his sister Valerie ran. As a kid, he spent his days collecting frisbees from behind the big canvas and sometimes even napping back there. In his teens, he took on more responsibility by heading the Specialty Team, handling the infrastructure under his dad’s guidance — setting up, maintaining, and packing up the Fair each year.
He officially joined the Fair Committee in the late 1980s and served into the 1990s, leading the infrastructure efforts that kept the Fair running smoothly. After a short break in the late ’90s and early 2000s, he rejoined the Committee in 2009 when Kathy Morley and Father Graham asked him to help bring back the games of chance and find ways to increase revenue. Chris has been an active member ever since and took over as Fair Chair in 2014 and was responsible for the design and construction of the Plinko game and the P&W game.
For Chris, the Fair has always been about friendship and community. His lifelong involvement has introduced him to countless wonderful people, and he deeply values the relationships and memories built through years of volunteering.
As the current Fair Chair, Chris describes himself as “the buck-stops-here” person — the one who keeps everyone working together and staying in their lanes (with a good sense of humor along the way).
