Photos by JOSH MELTZER | The Roanoke Times

Patrick Thomas, 80 (left), dances to live Lebanese music with his daughter Lourice Thomas at the 10th annual St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church's Lebanese Festival on Sunday.

Sevda Idrisova, 9 (left), her mother, Shura, and sister Faruza, 8, watch as youth dancers perform at the Lebanese Festival. The family came to Roanoke as Turkish refugees from Russia.

Music and the aromas of exotic foods blended together this weekend at a festival that has become an annual culinary and cultural event in Northwest Roanoke.

St. Elias Maronite Catholic Church capped off a weekend-long celebration of its Lebanese heritage on Sunday with a festival that fed thousands while giving the church's budget a healthy feeding as well.

Now in its 10th year, the church festival drew 4,000 people and raised approximately $40,000, said the Rev. Claude Franklin, pastor of St. Elias. Visitors spend $1 to $10 for helpings of baklava, tabbouleh, shish kabobs, pastries and other Lebanese cuisine.

Local businesses also pay to advertise inside a booklet of the festival's schedule of events. This was the second year that the event went on for three days instead of two.

All festival proceeds go into the church's operating budget, said Mandy Tolano, co-chairwoman of the event. The festival is St. Elias' second largest income producer, aside from the renting of its social hall.

This year some of the funds raised may be used for fixing roof leaks in the sanctuary, chapel and office. The roof has needed repairs since Franklin arrived last year.

"You can only patch so much," he said of the church's original roof, which dates to the mid-1980s.

A new addition at this year's festival was business owner Assaad Salamoun, a parishioner at St. Elias along with his wife, Laudy. In February, they opened a grocery store selling Middle Eastern foods in Roanoke's Grandin Village area, on Winborne Street.

On Sunday, Assaad Salamoun ran several rectangular tables where he sold Egyptian fava beans, cans of fried eggplant slices, bulgur wheat and other food products from his store, Mediterranean Gourmet. Assaad Salamoun said he plans to give at least 50 percent of his profits from the festival to St. Elias.

His store's presence at the event attracted some potential customers, such as Denise Aker. She stopped at his table on Sunday with her mother, Betty Aker, and they bought black olives, figs and pickled eggplant.

"I need to go" to Mediterranean Gourmet, Denise Aker said, balancing take-out containers of festival food.

"We love to experiment with all kinds of food," she said.

There were signs that this festival could be even more successful than last year's event. Tolano estimated that more people attended, though she did not have an exact count. They started out with 6,000 disposable plates on Friday, she said, and by midday Sunday about 1,000 were left.

Also for sale were $15 scarves, decorated with dangling gold-colored pieces, and $10 St. Elias cookbooks. All of the 60 scarves had sold and only one cookbook was left as of midday Sunday, said George Assaid, a member of St. Elias.

Rosemary Hawkins had such a good time on Saturday that she and her husband, Jesse, came back on Sunday. The Botetourt County residents emerged with a take-out box of food.

"We can't eat this all at one time," Rosemary Hawkins said.

Though the event was definitely a Lebanese culinary experience, there was one American feature. A booth sold "good old American hot dogs" for $1. Sherry Peeters got one for her 6-year-old daughter, Bridget.

Though Bridget had tasted some Lebanese food at the festival last year, "she is still sold on the hot dog," Peeters said.