Author’s Note: In 2015, the festival has changed locations to allow for expansion.
After going to my first ever Macedonian festival the day before and having a wonderful experience, I was more than ready to check out my first Russian festival…
…at St. Sergius Russian Orthodox Church in Parma.
I arrived there with my uncle, aunt and mother (seen in the picture above) and we were hungry.
Super hungry!
It didn’t take long before we got out of the car and searched for the quickest entrance into the festival area…
…cutting through the food tent…
…and stopping only briefly for some Russian musical entertainment going on inside there.
Beyond that, stations were set up at the pavilion…
…where they grilled shashlik (pork) and chevapi (minced lamb/beef/veal)…
…fried chebureki (a fried pie)…
…prepared blini (crepes)…
…and opened an occasional frosty Russian brew.
We decided we wanted something a little more, so we headed to the bottom of the church building…
…where they sold religious items, Russian souvenirs…
…and a line-creating selection of food.
Among the popular items, there were…
…tefteli (meatballs), bigus (kielbasa/kraut) and stuffed cabbage (oh my!).
And since it was too hard too choose from…
…we just got it all (plus three salads) stuffed onto a plate.
We crammed ourselves at a table (there was limited space inside) and began sharing the delicious food while chatting to those next to us, discussing dual citizenship, Europe, and other topics. As my uncle got a few more cabbage rolls, the topic moved to area festivals.
This was my own special heaven!
And it only got better…
…once my uncle got some desserts from the baked goods booth.
We eventually headed back out into the summer heat so that I could check out the last remaining part of the festival behind the pavilion.
There, on the lawn….
…was the “Kid’s Korner.”
Here they served hot dogs and chips for those younger festival goers not in the mood for chebureki and stuffed cabbage. They also had activities that included crafts…
…a playground, a jump house, and corn hole…
…Matroshka doll Russian corn hole, that is!