It's a new name, but it's the same traditional offerings at the Mennonite Central Committee's Family Festival.
You know what that means: treats like borscht, perogies, farmer sausage and pie.
What was once called the Mennonite Fall Fair has undergone some changes, but the food is still the driving force for this charitable event each fall.
"We will be serving lunch all day. The lunch consists of a bowl of borscht, farmer sausage on a bun, a beverage and your choice of pie," said event liaison Diane Fairservice.
You can also take home the culinary delights. Off-sales are one of the most pivotal parts of this autumn fundraising effort. Home baking will be on offer, as well as local fresh produce and some coming in from the Okanagan, farmer sausage coming from Manitoba, perogies on the way in from Abbotsford, fair trade coffee from Level Grounds, all to stock local freezers for the winter.
"We are all about food and family fun," said Fairservice. "We will have a children's carnival set up, they can participate in the activities and earn bucks toward the carnival children's store. We will have live music. It's a great time for people of all ages to come together and help an important cause."
The recipient of the funds generated from the family festival is the Migbare Senay Children & Family Support Organization, an agency focused on developing water resources and food sustainability in Ethiopia.
"The children who've been attending Sunday school were given boxes earlier in the year called My Coins Count, and those boxes will be collected at the event, and the kids will weigh all the boxes, there will be a display where they'll colour in how much their box weighed, and we will announce the total weight at the end of the day. Throughout the year, these kids have been learning about the projects in Ethiopia, so they are learning and they are discovering how they can help."
The family festival happens Sept. 29 from
10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Westwood Mennonite Brethren Church (2658 Ospika Blvd.)
Admission is free.
