MOORPARK : Festival to Offer a Taste of Egypt
Ventura County residents will have the chance this weekend to munch on baklava, shish kebab, falafel and other Middle Eastern delicacies at the third annual Egyptian Festival in Moorpark.
The fund-raising event will run through Sunday at Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church, the only Coptic church in Ventura County and one of 10 in the greater Los Angeles area.
In addition to sampling Egyptian foods, festival visitors will be able to purchase crafts such as reprints of hieroglyphics on papyrus and copper ornaments.
But mostly “the people come for the food,” said Father Shenouda Ghattas, the church’s pastor.
Food items will be sold individually. Ghattas said it will cost less than $10 to get enough for a meal.
Money raised at the festival will be used to renovate and expand the 3-year-old Moorpark church, located in a former assembly hall for a carpenters’ union, Ghattas said.
The church has a congregation of about 50 families from Ventura County.
The annual Egyptian Festival celebrates the beginning of the new year in the Coptic calendar, which began marking time in 285 A. D. when the Roman Emperor Diocletian was crowned.
The celebration, which began Friday, will continue from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
The church is at 110 Fremont St. For information, call 523-8207.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
