Armenian Fest 2023

Armenian Fest returned for the second year after it was shut down in 2020 because of COVID-19. The festival was held at St. Paul’s Armenian church in Fresno. Contributors said the event is a great way to give back to the community.

“It’s all about engaging our community with our Armenian culture that we have,” said Father Isaiah Bedros, the parish priest. “It’s maybe like a little bit unique because you know as a nation we have our little Armenia in the Middle East our motherland. But we are here living in this country and we are grateful to be here.”

Many booths were selling items ranging from wines and cheese to soaps and scrubs. There was even a farmers market with items donated by church-goers.

“It’ll be so packed in here by seven, eight o’clock that you won’t have any room to move,” said Tim Kukenbaker. “That’s how incredibly packed it gets. It’ll be like four to five people deep just to get to our farmers market booth.”

Most of the proceeds that were collected from the event go back into the church’s youth fund.

“They do a big sports event every year,” said Shelley Krikorian. “They play basketball, volleyball and so a lot of the money goes toward that. And again, they always make sure to donate to an Armenian fund once a year to give back to the community.”

If you missed Armeninan Fest this year you can catch it again in 2024. Here is my story on X, formerly known as Twitter.