RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Richmond’s oldest and longest-running food festival will return Friday, Sept. 8 and Saturday, Sept. 9 to St. James Armenian Church on Pepper Avenue in the West End.
The festival, which is now in its 63rd year, will feature Armenian favorites like cheese boreg, shish kabobs and stuffed grape leaves. Organizers tell us preparations for the big weekend begin months in advance.
“We’re a small community, but we take pride in doing this for the Richmond community,” Leiza Bouroujian, one of the festival’s organizers told 8News. “We have a dedicated group of 10-20 people that are here for months on end preparing for this. We do it because we want to bring exposure to our Armenian church.”
St. James Armenian Church was founded 67 years ago, and Bouroujian says it remains the only Armenian church in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“It was created in 1956 with the hard work of a lot of people,” she explained. “They started doing a bake sale to raise funds to build the church. So, this is our tradition.”
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Homemade pastries, beer and wine, live music and dancing will also be part of the festivities. The free event kicks off 11:30 a.m. and lasts until 9:30 p.m. on both days.
