MANCHESTER, NH – There were plenty of repeat customers at Mahrajan 2021, the annual celebration hosted by Our Lady of the Cedars Melkite Church on Mitchell Street in celebration of Middle Eastern culture. Regulars like Becky Saad, for one, who was there to commune with the fine food and good friends under one of the big tents on Saturday. Then she doubled down, with a brown to-go bag of Kibbee (Lebanese meatloaf), Baklawa (Lebanese version of the sweet walnut and phyllo-dough dessert) and Warak Arish (stuffed grape leaves).
“It was amazing, as usual. The food is fantastic,” said Saad, who got a chance to speak to two of the priests while enjoying the music and sultry summer weather. Corey Allard, a parishioner of Our Lady of Cedars who was among those in Saad’s friend group, said he would be back Sunday for grape leaves and lamb.
“I was here last night and I’ll be back tomorrow,” Allard said, explaining his strategy is to pace himself over the three days so he can sample all the food.
Also back this year was Dick Kiley, who lives just down the street from the church. He was there with one of his three grandsons, Daniel Kiley, 5, who was busy bobbing in and out of view on the bouncy sliding board and running his grandfather out of ride tickets in a hurry for the air-filled contraption, which also doubles as a sliding board and climbing wall.
“I just love coming and seeing the kids have fun,” Kiley said. “I wish my other grandsons could be here.”
Above: RJ Palazzolo, seated, keeps a watchful eye over the back end of the bouncy sliding board. His mission included keeping the kids safe and making sure they followed the rules.
Manning the bouncy house was RJ Palazzolo, who was on duty taking tickets, reminding kids to kick off their shoes before bouncing, and more or less herding cats when it came to keeping everyone safe. “You have to move to the right,” he cautioned a little girl imitating Spiderman as she climbed vertically on the wall to get to the slide. “One on each side,” Palazzolo called out as he corraled a line-jumper who was crowding the flow at the bottom of the slide. “OK, you have to get in line over here,” he said with the patience of a Byzantine saint, taking a wad of blue tickets from the leader of the pack.
Also back were Alyssa and Rafael Peschiera of Bedford, who also are parishioners of the church and who for the past four years have brought their goats and ponies to the festival from their family farm, giving kids a chance to see how long a goat’s tongue is when it searches the bottom of a plastic cup for feed, or how far off the ground a pony’s back is when you’re riding high in the saddle.
Zoe May, 3, was excited to feed the goats but wasn’t interested in riding a pony, according to her parents. Meanwhile, Evelyn Palumbo bypassed the hungry goats so she could have her first-ever pony ride on American Glory – Glory for short, said Rafael Peschiera, who took the tiny rider once around a large grassy area behind the church.
“Wanna go again?” he asked Evelyn, who nodded her blonde curls which caused her purple safety helmet to slip a little. Like a natural cowgirl, Evelyn took one hand off the saddle and tipped her helmet back so she could see her mom standing just ahead. “I wanna go again,” she informed her mom, who smiled and waved.
Mahjaran continues until 9 p.m. Saturday Aug. 21 and again Sunday Aug. 22 from noon to 5 p.m. Our Lady of Cedars is located at 140 Mitchell St., Manchester. You can order food online for pick-up during festival hours via this link which includes the menu.
