St. Matthews Multicultural Festival 2016

We made it to the very end of the St. Matthews Multi-Cultural Festival in October, 2016. St. Matthews is an Orthodox Christian church in Columbia, Maryland. We had meant to go to the Octberfest night on Friday, which featured German beer and dancing. A conflict came up so we couldn't go. We finally went on Sunday afternoon for an early dinner.

Various vendors had tents up outside, selling items like religious icons, crafts, and food.

Festival tents

The food tents

The food tents were especially nice since they had food from many regions in the Orthodox church. They served Greek, Lebanese, Romanian, Slavic, and Ethiopian foods. We had pierogis (Slavic), lamb kabob (Lebanese), tiropita (Greek), and a hot dog (American) for my daughter.

Kabob with pita and tiropita

I also visited the beer tent for my beverage. Unfortunately by Sunday afternoon all that was left was Leinenkugel's. They had taped over the premium German beers, so I don't know what Oktoberfest goodness I missed.

Beer Garden

We ate in the main tent which had a stage for performances. Throughout the weekend talents of all sorts were on display: Flamenco dancing, Irish dancing, martial arts, ballet, Mexican music, and more. While we were there they had belly dancing, which included audience participation. We were too shy to try it out, but others in the audience were braver.

Dance lesson

The kids were ready to go home, so we did not get the chance to tour the church. Maybe next year! On the way out, we stopped at the dessert booth and bought a multi-dessert pack. Our favorite was the baklava.

Dessert sampler at home

Dessert close up