A local church is offering the public the opportunity to take a culinary world tour without leaving town this weekend. It's the second annual Ethnic Food Festival at Holy Cross Eastern Orthodox Church in Ormond Beach.
    
The parish includes families with far-reaching origins and ethnic backgrounds with a rich variety of customs, said Father Michael Byars. "The most popular of these ethnic customs are the many different traditional food dishes and recipes that have been passed down through many generations."
     
The festival will include food tables with Arabic, Greek, Slavic, Romanian and Italian dishes available a la carte for "very reasonable prices," Byars said.
     
The event will also include face painting for the kids and recorded ethnic folk music.
     
The Ethnic Food Festival takes place from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Holy Cross Eastern Orthodox Church, 375 Fleming Ave., Ormond Beach.
     
Admission is free. For more information, call 386-677-0640 or visit holycrossaoc.org.
 

It's all about fishing and seafood on Flagler Avenue on Thursday, Aug. 20.

The monthly parties continue on the avenue with the second annual Shrimp and Seafood Festival from 5 to 9 p.m.

Several thousand people are expected to attend the family event, where about 25 of the area's restaurants will compete for the 2009 Best on the Beach Awards. Five people will judge dish categories featuring shrimp, shellfish, fish and specialty.

The event will not only feature seafood dishes--priced between $3 and $5--but also lots of fishing related gear and information about local guides and charter boats.

Live music, beer gardens and a free kids zone will also be on Flagler, which will be closed to vehicle traffic.

For more information, call the New Smyrna beach Visitors Center at 800-541-9621. 

A fundraising festival is planned for 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 22, at the Hammock Wine & Cheese Shoppe, 5368 N. Oceanshore Blvd., Palm Coast.

The event will feature more than a dozen artist's booths, five wine tasting tables, a beer table, a cheese table and Elias & The Snyders performing bluegrass music. A silent art auction for the Gargiulo Art Foundation will include works by John J. Graham, Gena Brodie Robbins and Richard Schreiner.

Admission is $10 with half of the proceeds going toward KARE (Kids Art Renaissance Experience) part of the nonprofit South East Coalition of Contemporary Artists' programs at Hollingsworth Gallery. The other half will be a $5 coupon toward purchases in the wine shoppe over $20.

Rain date is Aug. 29. For more information, call 386-445-3357.

To celebrate Bunnell's agricultural roots, Bunnell's Inaugural Potato Festival, presented by the Bunnell Chamber of Commerce and the City of Bunnell, is scheduled for May 14-17 at 200 S. Church St. in downtown Bunnell.

Potatoes are part of Flagler County's roots (pun intended). For more than a century, the spud was a staple crop in the Western part of Flagler County, chiefly grown for potato chips. While cabbage and sod are Flagler's staple crops today, the potato remains an important agricultural feature and iconic figure of the county's agricultural heritage.

The festival will feature carnival rides and games, a beef and potatoes cook-off and a Potato Princess pageant and of course, potatoes.

Hours are May 14: 6 to 10 p.m. (rides only); May 15: 3 to 11 p.m.; May 16: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. (rides open at noon) with opening ceremony at 10 a.m., beef and potato cook-off at noon and the Potato Princess pageant at 2 p.m.; May 17: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (rides open at noon). The potato booth will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 16 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. May 17.

Admission is free, but proceeds raised from the event will fund scholarships awarded each year to one or more graduating seniors who reside in Bunnell. Donations of nonperishable food items will be donated to the Flagler Resource Center food pantry.

For more information, call 386-437-0106 flaglerchamber.org.