Photograph by George Sakkestad
Lisa Pilipenko and daughter Mary, 3, are ready for St. Nicholas Church's annual Russian Festival.
Such Russian treats as piroshki, borscht and blintzes will be featured Oct. 11-13 during the 44th annual Russian Festival at Saratoga's St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, 14220 Elva Ave.
The food, including ethnic pastries such as teacakes, mazurka (a pastry with raspberry filling) and poppy seed rolls, will bring back childhood memories, promises Nancy Jones, one of the organizers of the annual event.
The three-day festival also features antiques, icons and one-of-a-kind gift items such as lacquer boxes and amber jewelry, in addition to church tours and a prize drawing. Among the entertainment will be balalaika (a string musical instrument similar to a mandolin) groups, Russian folk singers and Russian sacred music.
The festival is set for Oct. 11 from 4 to 9 p.m., Oct. 12, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Oct. 13 from noon to 6 p.m. Adult donation is $3, seniors and students $2, and children 12 and under are free.
The festival was started in 1952 to help raise funds to build the church. St. Nicholas is involved in many charitable events, Jones said. Church members provide meals to the Family Living Center in San Jose and to the Sunnyvale Armory. In addition, the congregation supports Project Mexico, which operates an orphanage in Tijuana and helps build homes for poor families.
Church members have provided food, clothing, medical supplies and physical labor to several Russian charities, including International Orthodox Christian Charities, Diocesan Outreach to Refugees, Valaam Monastery and to its sister church, St. Dimitri Priludski in Moscow, which runs a nonprofit hospital. A recent shipment of medical supplies and personal items was sent to refugees in Bosnia.
For more information about the festival, call 867-0628.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, October 2, 1996.
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