The St. Maron Maronite Catholic Church Food Festival celebrates the Lebanese, Syrian and American cultures through food and music. While the main reason to visit the festival is all the delicious food, there are also a kids’ area with inflatables, music performances, a tent with a bar and hookah, and a booth for free health screenings.
2023 DATE: August 19-20, 2023
Location: St. Maron Church
7800 Brookside Road
Independence, OH 44131
Website: https://www.stmaronfestival.com/
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This post documents my experience on August 22, 2021.
At St. Maron Church, in Independence, Ohio…
…they were putting on a Food Festival that I didn’t want to miss.
Set up with a nice open area…
…the festival offered health screenings…
…a raffle…
…a tented bar with hookah…
…another tent with entertainment and DJ…
…and a play area for the kids (inflatables were put up at 2 pm).
The main attraction was the food tent…
…which was split into two lines/sides at the entrance.
If you got in the left line, you could get platters and ala carte items like kabobs and grape leaves…
…while the right side offered coffees (Lebanese and American)…
…and manoushi, or flatbreads, topped with either cheese or a blend of spices (Zataar)…
…and it was cool to watch them make it.
One of my favorite things was the Sheikh El Mihshi (eggplant with spices) over rice…
…but the cheese and Zataar manoushi were both rather tasty.
Before leaving the festival, I got a collection of date maamoul (in the bags), nammoura (semolina cake in syrup) and baklava with pistacchio and brought them home to the family.
The baklava was my favorite.