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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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The three-day event is the church’s biggest fundraiser.
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Fr. Kevin Beaton joins children and community members for a cake walk.
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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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A sea of black, green and red fill the courtyard as dancers perform into the evening.
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Youth dancers show off weeks of practice as more than 100 people look on.
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The dances combined performances from all age groups.
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Men perform the Al-Ghazal, a traditional dance move characterized by three strong stomps of the right foot.
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After the youth performances, everyone was invited to join in the dancing.
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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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Event-goers enjoyed a selection of Lebanese beer and wine.
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Almaza, a Lebanese pilsner beer, is brewed by Brasserie Almaza, Lebanon's No. 1 brewer.
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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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Vendors inside the banquet hall sold jeweled scarves, headbands and bracelets.
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Children and adults alike adorned these colorful scarves throughout the festival.
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A vendor table displays a variety of Lebanese products, including ingredients used in many traditional dishes.
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A volunteer works the dessert table, a massive display of traditional treats.
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The festival also showcased artifacts, musical instruments and facts from Lebanon.
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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.