Lebanese culture celebrated during St. George festival

Posted 9/18/14

Rhode Island’s Lebanese community did more than put its best foot – and fantastic food – forward last weekend in Cranston.

For starters, if what went on in Knightsville during the revived …

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Lebanese culture celebrated during St. George festival

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Rhode Island’s Lebanese community did more than put its best foot – and fantastic food – forward last weekend in Cranston.

For starters, if what went on in Knightsville during the revived St. George Maronite Church Festival last Saturday and Sunday offers any measuring stick, the Roman Catholic parish may just need more room for future festivals.

Not even Saturday night’s rainstorm dampened people’s spirits – or cut down the crowd, for that matter – for a well-organized event that featured plenty of great Lebanese food, fellowship and family fun all under huge tents.

For the children, there was the highly popular bounce house and other activities all manned by proud parishioners who volunteered for a number of duties.

For the adults, there was plenty of fantastic food cooked and served at a number of well-staffed areas, homemade Lebanese pastry, a special bar area that featured a number of notable servers like high school wrestling coaching legend John Badway and another area where people could simply sit and listen to the sounds of such musical groups as the Marlouf Band.

In addition to the well-structured stations located throughout “Festival Field” was the large display of business and personal banners (super sponsors) that spoke volumes of just how proud the Lebanese community is of its heritage, culture and church.

Moreover, there was the scent of charbroiled food like the many shish kabob offerings that ranged from beef to chicken to lamb and the Lebanese national dish of kibbee, baked and stuffed, as well as mouth-watering munchies like kafta, stuffed grape leaves and humus, just to name a few.

“Everything smells so good,” Anthony Budway Sr. said while watching four cooks man the grills. “And it tastes as good as it looks.”

In the middle of it all were people like chairman Anthony Budway Jr., Tony Simon and St. George Maronite Church’s pastor, the Rev. Edward Nedder.

Sunday afternoon, under a sparkling sun, Nedder made his way from table to table talking to parishioners and their children as they enjoyed the festival’s homemade food.

“We did really well,” said Simon, whose family played a major role in the festival’s success. “It was a nice event. People really enjoyed themselves and that was really, really important.”

To which Budway Jr. added, “I’m really not the chairman; we had a committee of five people who worked hard. We never expected that we’d have such a successful event. We’re really happy. This [festival] was phenomenal.”

Budway, who like Simon, his father and Nedder, was overwhelmed with the support from festival-goers.

“We never thought we’d have this large of a crowd. We are especially pleased that Cranston residents welcomed us as if we’ve been part of the community for years, and we’ve only been here since 2013,” he said.

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