St. Gregory of Narek Armenian Festival 678 Richmond Rd. Cleveland September 19-20, 2025
St Gregory of Narek Church in Richmond Heights Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland) hosts an annual Armenian Festival with food, music, dancing and more including church tours.
St Gregory of Narek Armenian Church
There were resources to learn about Armenian culture and its people.
There were tours of the beautiful Church and grounds.
St. Gregory of Narek Church altar
If you missed one of the Church tours there were informative displays.
Inside there was shopping and lots of delicious food that was enjoyed outside in the beautiful weather. As always, the delicious traditional Armenian food was a highlight. I had lamb kebobs, Armenian pilaf and an Armenian salad - and way too many desserts to list!
There was face painting and kids activities and performances. Rev. Fr. Hratch Sargsyan, pastor of St. Gregory of Narek Church, introduced a special guest, Mher Mnatsakanyan, an artist who flew in from Los Angeles just that morning. Throughout the day he performed on the duduk and other instruments.
Rev. Fr. Hratch Sargsyan
Mher Mnatsakanyan playing duduk
Duduk is considered to be the most Armenian of all folk instruments. It has a 1500 - year history and is native to Armenia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. Here is a video of the introduction from Fr. Hratch and then a few snippets of the duduk performances.
A highlight of the Festival was the performances by dancers from the St. Gregory of Narek community. Fr. Hratch introduced the dancers from the Church community who performed this first dance. Watch.
Here is a second dance.
This 3rd dance featured four young ladies.
They then invited attendees to join them for a dance.
Of course, volunteers make it all happen. Here are just a few of the hard-working volunteers at the Armenian Festival.
This is one of my favorite Festivals of the year. I hope you can visit next year.
***
Want to learn about ethnic and cultural events like the Armenian Festival? Sign up for the free eNews and every Tuesday evening you will receive a free e-mail listing the next week's events. It's easy and free.
