{"id":198845,"date":"2026-05-21T13:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/198845\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T13:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T13:29:09","slug":"scranton-parish-celebrates-inaugural-cinco-de-mayo-festival-with-food-and-fellowship-diocese-of-scranton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/198845\/","title":{"rendered":"Scranton parish celebrates inaugural Cinco de Mayo festival with food and fellowship \u2013 Diocese of Scranton"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCRANTON \u2013 Food, faith, and fellowship came together on the weekend of May 2-3 as Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish in South Scranton hosted its first-ever Cinco de Mayo Food Festival.<\/p>\n

The weekend event drew a steady crowd who came to enjoy a wide variety of authentic Latin American dishes while supporting the parish community. From tacos and empanadas to chicharr\u00f3nes and elotes, the festival highlighted the rich culinary traditions of the parish\u2019s Hispanic members.<\/p>\n

\"\"Parishioners place orders at a stand set up for the first-ever Cinco de Mayo Food Festival at Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish in South Scranton.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re selling all different kinds of foods,\u201d parishioner Emily Lopez said. \u201cIt\u2019s fun too. We get to see people from our church and interact with them. It\u2019s really fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival was more than just a fundraiser \u2013 it was a celebration of culture and connection.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been nice to see parish members taste some of the foods that they haven\u2019t tasted yet,\u201d parishioner Daisy Klem said. \u201cAs a Hispanic person myself, I\u2019ve been trying new foods that I haven\u2019t tried before from other countries, so it has been great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klem noted the strong sense of unity throughout the weekend, with parishioners of all ages pitching in. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single person in our community is working out there \u2013 the youth group, adults \u2013 everybody is just here and helping and enjoying ourselves and making new friends. It\u2019s great,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Given the outstanding turnout, Father Jonathan Kuhar, pastor of Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish, said the food festival is likely to become an annual event.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a wonderful opportunity for the people of our community to gather together in love and fellowship, and to have a nice fundraiser,\u201d Father Kuhar said. \u201cWhile it\u2019s our first annual food festival for Cinco de Mayo, I expect it will become an annual tradition because it\u2019s been a wonderful event.\u201d<\/p>\n

The festival also highlighted the diversity within the parish itself, with foods representing cultures from across Latin America, including Mexican, Ecuadorian, Colombian, and Dominican traditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a real enthusiasm for the faith,\u201d Father Kuhar added. \u201cThey bring a vibrancy and an enthusiasm that is really reinvigorating for our parish and for our diocese.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those volunteering, the weekend offered a meaningful way to share heritage while building new relationships.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to combine our religion with our culture,\u201d Lopez explained. \u201cJust so that more generations know more about it and we get connected to our ancestry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCRANTON \u2013 Food, faith, and fellowship came together on the weekend of May 2-3 as Saint Teresa of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198846,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-198845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}