A Birmingham-area staple returns to Central Alabama this year. The food festival will be held at Saint George Melkite Catholic Church, located at 425 16th Avenue South, near UAB. Hours are from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday to Saturday. The festival will offer a drive-through service between the hours of 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

"What we want to do is ultimately show people our culture, but more importantly our faith,” said Jeremy Ritchey, chairman of the St. George Middle Eastern Food Festival committee. “We are part of the Catholic Church. We’re the Eastern side – the Greek-Catholic Church – and so it gives an opportunity to show what we are as a church but more importantly where our roots came from, which is the Middle East.” The focal point, however, is the food. “Food is your center point of not only here in the South in the United States, but in Middle Eastern culture as well,” Ritchey said. Then there are the pastries. From the nut-filled baklawa to the zalabieh donuts, the vast variety of sweets are at the center of the festival.

Admission to this event is free. 

The third of the series in Movies at Avondale Park’s 2022 season – The Goonies. Seating opens at 6pm with pre-movie entertainment and the movie starts at dusk. Plan a family date night with a picnic dinner from one of our food trucks in the park. Admission is free. 

This play, written by Kathryn Schultz Miller and directed by Jessica Clark, follows a curious reporter as he begins to uncover the story of Amelia Earhart’s mysterious disappearance. What he finds along the way pieces together the thrilling life story of one of America’s most fascinating heroines. Just as the world was inspired by one young woman’s courage to dare the impossible, this show will inspire young audiences to undertake their biggest, wildest dreams. These performances are free to the public and begin at 11 a.m.

Fiesta, Alabama’s largest celebration of Hispanic culture and heritage, is pleased to announce its 20th annual festival to take place Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022, from 12 to 8 p.m. at Linn Park. Tickets to Fiesta 2022 are $12 online and $15 at the gate. Children ages 12 and under are free. Event attendees are urged to buy tickets before the event at fiestabham.com. Donations to the Fiesta Scholarship Fund are encouraged at the event.

Music, dance, performing arts, visual arts, children’s activities, cultural education, authentic Latin food as well as community and health-related resources are all part of the event. This year, Fiesta is bringing back a favorite component, Lucha Libre, which will feature the Blue Demon from Mexico, Iguana hailing from Guatemala, and other famous Mexican professional wrestling acts.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit fiestabham.com. 

Join Cahaba Brewing Company in partnership with the Cahaba River Society for a Cahaba River Canoe Clean-up at Grants Mill. Participants will be paddling from Grants Mill Rd in Irondale (2171 Grants Mill Rd, Birmingham, AL 35210) to Old Overton Rd near Liberty Park (3424-3400 River Terrace Dr, Vestavia Hills, AL 35223).

Volunteers will be divided into teams to battle it out. The team with the most trash pick-up wins a Tour + Tasting, a Top Golf Night Out, and merch. But all volunteers will be invited back to the Taproom to celebrate a cleaner Cahaba River.

This show begins with Aesop’s classic fable of The Tortoise and the Hare but continues the story, which finds them 10 years down the road, now with children of their own and exploring modern-day distractions. Smartphones and video games create a new landscape of lost connections to life experiences.

The Next Gen features Tortoise Junior and Lil’ Hare in a whole new kind of race, where their adventures lead them into unexpected territory. Old Man Tortoise and Big Daddy Hare must come together, despite their differences, to find and save their children and overcome to make it to the finish line.

With dazzling visuals, poignant storytelling, and the creative use of music from classical to pop, this production brings this tale into a new and brilliant light. 

Tickets are $15. The show will begin at 3 p.m.

The Annual Barber Vintage Festival is one of the most highly anticipated motorcycle events in the world. The three-day festival features the fan zone with food and entertainment, a swap meet with hundreds of vendors selling vintage motorcycles and parts, as well as the VJMC gathering and the Motorcycle Classics show. The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum also features extended hours as well as seminars during the 17th Barber Vintage Festival. 

Daily tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for children. 

The St. Symeon Food and Culture Fair returns to Clairmont Avenue this October 8 from 9-3 with an outdoor marketplace featuring baked goods, gifts, and hot food items such as Greek donuts and homemade pierogi, as well as church tours, a choir concert, and a lecture about iconography. Each year, church members work in teams to create four booths that loosely coincide with the different ethnic backgrounds of the congregation: the Balkan Bakery, the Slavic Tea Room, Cafe Europa, and Southern Sweets and Savories. Each booth features homemade baked goods and gifts. A separate booth this year will offer Turkish coffee with cardamom sugar cubes and Slavic tea from a samovar with traditional sweeteners including jam. Guests can enjoy treats on site in the church fellowship hall and also stock up on baked goods to take home. There will be live music in the fellowship hall for guests to enjoy. 

The St. Symeon Orthodox Church Choir has recorded several albums, and its work is in regular rotation on Ancient Faith Radio. The choir will present a concert at 11 a.m. titled “Cross and Resurrection.” “The cross and the resurrection of our Lord are at the heart of our faith,” explained Fr. Alexander Fecanin, the church rector at St. Symeon. “The concert will give our guests a sampling of some of the hymns from Holy Week and Easter, which is the high point of the church year,” the priest added. The church, which was built in 2014 and features floor-to-ceiling icon murals painted in traditional Byzantine style, will be open for tours throughout the fair. At 1 p.m., Protodeacon Ephraim Rivers will present “What is Iconography?,” a talk explaining the ancient Christian tradition of sacred art and the role of icons in Orthodox Christianity. Additionally, a church member will be presenting a slideshow in the fellowship hall featuring photography from Orthodox Christian monasteries throughout North America and will be available to discuss the role of monasticism in the life of the Church.

St. Symeon Orthodox Church is located at 3101 Clairmont Avenue in Birmingham. Admission to the festival is free.  

Join the Birmingham Zoo for the Hoots & Howls daytime Halloween festival! Wear your costumes and trick-or-treat through the Candy Trail, join in the Monster Mash dance party with the DJ, take a ride on the Red Diamond Express Train and Protective Life Carousel, meet animals of all shapes and sizes, and play yard games on Henley Lawn!

This event takes place 10:00 am – 4:00 pm every Saturday and Sunday the last 3 weekends in October (15-16, 22-23, 29-30). Non-members will need to purchase admission and the candy trail ticket or wristband. Members will just need to purchase the candy trail ticket or wristband. Wristbands are $10 and candy trail tickets are $3.95. 

Bring the family out to the Alabama Wildlife Center for the annual Owl-O-Ween! Encounter and learn about our birds of prey, get your picture taken with a live owl, and witness a rehabilitated owl’s release back into the wild.

The event will last from 12-2 p.m. and is free with paid admission to Oak Mountain State Park. 

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