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St. Elias Church
Lebanese Deliveries
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Laura Weeks
The 15th annual Lebanese Festival was held at St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church in Roanoke May 31-June 2.
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Laura Weeks
The three-day event is the church’s biggest fundraiser.
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Laura Weeks
Fr. Kevin Beaton joins children and community members for a cake walk.
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Laura Weeks
Event-goer Toni Stinnett dances in the courtyard. She has been attending the festival for 10 years.
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Laura Weeks
DJ Samer Jazrawy played authentic music and sang throughout the day.
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Laura Weeks
From left: Rosa Saunders, Toni Stinnett and Rhonda Horne dance to the sounds of traditional Lebanese music.
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Laura Weeks
A sea of black, green and red fill the courtyard as dancers perform into the evening.
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Laura Weeks
Youth dancers show off weeks of practice as more than 100 people look on.
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Laura Weeks
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Laura Weeks
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Laura Weeks
The dances combined performances from all age groups.
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Laura Weeks
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Laura Weeks
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Laura Weeks
Men perform the Al-Ghazal, a traditional dance move characterized by three strong stomps of the right foot.
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Laura Weeks
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Laura Weeks
After the youth performances, everyone was invited to join in the dancing.
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Laura Weeks
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Laura Weeks
More than 16 traditional Lebanese dishes drew crowds into the banquet hall.Pictured: Marinated chicken breast, bata arabee salatet (Lebanese potato salad), pita bread, warak inab (grape leaves stuffed with ground sirloin and rice) and tabouleh (a salad of parsley, cracked wheat, onions and tomatoes).
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Laura Weeks
Event-goers enjoyed a selection of Lebanese beer and wine.
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Laura Weeks
Almaza, a Lebanese pilsner beer, is brewed by Brasserie Almaza, Lebanon's No. 1 brewer.
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Laura Weeks
A food stand in the courtyard featured falafel (a sandwich of vegetable patties made with fava beans, chickpeas, onion and spices), kafta (a sandwich of grilled, lean ground sirloin mixed with onions and Lebanese spices) and zalabee (Lebanese funnel cakes).
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Laura Weeks
Vendors inside the banquet hall sold jeweled scarves, headbands and bracelets.
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Laura Weeks
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Laura Weeks
Children and adults alike adorned these colorful scarves throughout the festival.
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Laura Weeks
A vendor table displays a variety of Lebanese products, including ingredients used in many traditional dishes.
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Laura Weeks
A volunteer works the dessert table, a massive display of traditional treats.
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Laura Weeks
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Laura Weeks
The festival also showcased artifacts, musical instruments and facts from Lebanon.
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Laura Weeks
Hungry customers line up to take home a taste of Lebanon.
In the May/June issue of The Roanoker, I wrote about the Lebanese Festival (and a recipe for potato salad, plus an online recipe for tabouli and shish ka bob), held at St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church this past weekend. I intended to attend the festival to experience more than just the food of the Lebanese culture, but I ended up with a full schedule of family activities instead.
But what’s great about the event is the available to-go menu…and you can bet I took advantage of that! On Friday, I faxed in an order of delicious-sounding Lebanese items and picked the dishes up later that afternoon. Based on the aromas filling my car, I knew dinner was going to be a winner.
It was so good, in fact, and I was so excited to dig in that I forgot to take any pictures. Oops! We feasted on lamb kabobs, grape leaves stuffed with rice and meat, spinach and feta roll-ups and baklava, among several other items. It’s too hard to pick a favorite; each one was great in its own way.
I got a chance to speak with Carol Abbott, a member of the church who helps host the festival, to find out how the rest of the weekend played out. From the food (the potato salad was a featured menu item on Friday) and silent auction to the dancers and music, she says the entire event was a huge success.
“We had a huge turn out (and we) are already looking forward to next year's event; the planning begins now,” she says.