City: Birmingham, AL

Category: Annual Events & Festivals

Telephone: (205) 674-1325

Address: 105 Pastor St.

Description: Commonly known as the Russian Food Festival, this delightful little event is a fundraiser for the Russian Orthodox Church in the former mining town of Brookside. Settled by immigrants in the 1880s from Western Ukraine (what’s now Slovakia), Brookside today is making a comeback with developments along the adjacent Five Mile Creek Greenway. The charming church, with its cupola topped by an onion-shaped dome, indicates immediately to visitors that Brookside has a singular history and culture. But for attendees, it’s the stuffed holupki (cabbage), klobasa and kraut, potato dumplings, baked piroshki (meat pie), borscht, piroshky, and other delicious Slavic foods that cause the line to run out the church door and down the steps outside. End your meal with some spiced Russian tea or tea from the samovar and some kolach, baked goods, and other delicious sweets. While you’re waiting for the Russian dancing to begin, be sure to tour the old temple building.