Dancing; homemade delicacies including paklava and kadayif; and handcrafted jewelry, clothing and purses were all part of the sixth annual Armenian Cultural Festival that drew an estimated 2,700 people to Saint Garabed church over the weekend.
The two-day festival, held on the church grounds, is a fundraiser for the church and a way to celebrate the Armenian culture with the rest of the community, said V.J. McKrtchian, co-chairman of the festival, taking a short break from the barbecue grills.
“We’re the oldest Christian nation; the first church nation that adopted Christianity,” McKrtchian said.
The major sponsor for the event was the Armenian Fraternity.
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“But we wouldn’t be able to put on this event without the Armenian Ladies’ (Society) that starts three months in advance to put the event together,” McKrtchian added. “They provide the labor of love.”
Inside the church’s multipurpose room Sunday, dozens of volunteers stood behind warming pans dishing up pilaf, stuffed grape leaves, cheese beoreg and other Armenian delicacies, all made by church parishioners.
“We started a couple of months ago on the preparation,” said Carolon Nigosian, a volunteer and member of the church’s Ladies’ Society.
“It takes about a full day to make enough of each of the items,” she said. Many can be frozen while others need to be made fresh the week of the event.
“It’s lots of work,” said co-chairs of the a la carte and pastry committee Sonia Matossian and Ginny Kelekian.
The most popular item is the kadayif, a dessert made of shredded dough and layered with half-and-half and whipping creams.
It all reminded Manon Rios of her grandmother.
“My grandma used to make all of these foods,” she said.
A resident of Anchorage, Alaska, Rios was in town visiting her parents. It was her first time attending the festival, she said while purchasing bags of nuts from Aida Dinkjian of Starnuts, a roasting company based in Palm Desert.
It was the company’s first time participating in the Armenian festival, said Dinkjian, who is also Armenian.
“Business has been good,” she said as her daughter Lena Haiek of Glendale stopped by to say hello.
“There are a lot of nice people in this area,” Haiek said, her 2-year-old daughter, Gianna, in tow.
“I definitely love the dancers,” Haiek said. “I want to put my daughter in Armenian dance classes … and she gets the chance to see the dances here.”
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