By Maria Cook
St. Mary and St. Mark Coptic Orthodox Church at 12174 Shelborne Rd. in Carmel will play host May 27 to its inaugural Egyptian Festival. The event, set for 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., will include Egyptian food, worship music, a photo booth, tours of the church and kid’s activities. Admission is free.
“We’re going to have activities inside and outside. Food will be served outside, there will be a bouncy house for the kids and face painting,” said Marline Hanna, a church member who is helping with the festival. “We’re going to have the band outside. There will be music all day and the church will present spiritual songs throughout the day. Inside there will be some things like ping pong and a tour of our church every 45 minutes.”
Hanna said many people in the Carmel community have expressed interest in the church because of its building. The community interest is what sparked the idea to hold a festival.
“We hear from our neighbors, ‘Hey, this is a nice church, we want to know more about your vision and more about your culture,'” Hanna said. “Most people want to go and see what is going on there, so we thought it would be a nice thing to be part of the community and invite everyone in Westfield and Carmel.”
The festival is sponsored by First Merchants Bank and Subway. It is being organized by church members who have formed committees to plan aspects such as food, music and decorating.
“I’m really so excited because everyone worked really hard on this and it’s really good to see God is blessing our work by letting people know about our church, our work, our vision,” Hanna said. “We are so excited to be involved in our community.”
