News & Pics: Fevin Mascarenhas
Daijiworld Media Network – Al Ain (SB)

Al Ain, Dec 24: The Christmas and New Year Food Festival organized for the second consecutive year turned out to be a great event. The bustling parish of St Mary’s Al Ain that recently inaugurated their new church building, made every attempt to ensure that all the parishioners enjoyed the festivities. This also met the main goal of the event which was to raise vital funds for the church construction.

Following the success of 2008, the event was anticipated by every parishioner who helped to make sure the food festival was larger and better this time around. The whole event revolved around the Christmas theme. The occasion was declared open at 10.30 am by the parish priest, Fr Anthony P A. The proceedings were then handed to the entertaining comperes Rowena Josol and Dominic Victoria.

The day started off with various performances from all the catechism classes right from pre-school to the youth classes. These included various plays based on the nativity, carol singing and also entertaining dances. Towards the evening there were songs and dances presented by various parish communities that entertained the crowd till the end of the day’s proceedings. The sheer number of performances ensured parishioners were on their feet right till 10.30pm.

The best facet of the event was the different communities of the parish all coming together and working for the success of the food festival. Among the stalls, there were various game stalls that let the crowd try their luck and skill to win fancy prizes. All the stalls were patronized by the charitable parishioners who all wanted to support the great cause. There were food stalls set up by the Arabic, Filipino, Keralite, Chennai and the Konkan communities. The crowd was spoilt for choice with the stalls catering to amazing delicacies, which were relevant to the traditional cuisine of the numerous communities.

The highlight for the Konkan community was the traditional signature dishes prepared by the Mangalorean and Goans such as xacuti, sorpotel and many more.

However, the main attraction of the event was right at the end, with the grand raffle draw taking place. The winner of the grand prize drove away in a brand new Suzuki Alto which was sponsored by a parishioner. There also was an auction that took place to sell the raffle coupons and this was generously graced by the parishioners. There were many other raffle draw winners, who won various state of the art appliances. The event was co-ordinated by Aldrin Vas and Eugene Almeida, who planned every aspect to ensure the event, was a grand success.