The history of the annual Shower of Roses celebration in the New Columbus section of Nesquehoning dates back to 1932, when Monsignor Agnello Angelini, then pastor of Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish, fostered the community's devotion to St. Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus.

The celebration featured Mass, a procession, blessings, a spaghetti dinner and a shower of roses dropped from a helicopter onto the faithful below.It grew in popularity as the years went by and pilgrims from all along the East Coast visited in the hopes of catching a rose.In addition 1,000 St. Therese candles were lit in the church and at the grotto for special intentions.Up until 1975, the Rose Queen would fly in the helicopter that dropped the roses, and then would walk through the crowds in the grotto once the helicopter landed.At the height of the celebration, more than 60 buses traveled to New Columbus for Shower of Roses.In 2008, no festival was held due to the closure of Our Lady of Mount Carmel by the Allentown Diocese, and many thought the annual celebration was lost.Over the next four years, the parishioners fought to have the parish reopened and eventually won when the diocese agreed to open it as a shrine to St. Therese.The Shower of Roses resumed in 2011 on a smaller scale and grew back to what it was years ago the following year.