This past weekend, our St. Sarkis parish once again demonstrated that a community that prays and laughs together, stays together! A treasured tradition at St. Sarkis Church is the commemoration of Father’s Day. Nearly 200 parishioners gathered to celebrate the occasion in our main hall Saturday night June 15th , which was beautifully transformed into a family-friendly club-like atmosphere. What an amazing evening!
New and old friends enjoyed the opportunity to catch up and socialize in a fun setting. The evening started out with a cocktail hour accompanied by a bountiful spread of homemade delectables served buffet style. The cocktail hour included outstanding performances by Nargiz Mkrtchyan with her enchanting voice, accompanied by her husband the brilliant pianist, Tigran Dumanyan. Another special treat of the evening was an outstanding performance by our very own Tonee Marino, who wowed the audience with a song that put his extraordinary creativity and talent on display.
The highlight of the evening’s entertainment was a brilliant comedy show delivered by Antic, one of the best Armenian Comedians of our generation. Antic had the audience roaring in laughter, delivering relatable jokes in both Armenian and English to everyone’s delight. St. Sarkis is proud to have hosted this East Coast Show and we hope Antic will return soon!
Before the start of the comedy show, Der Nareg and Dr. Annita Nerses made a very special “2024 Father of the Year” presentation to a highly accomplished parishioner, Mr. Louie Zakarian. Louie’s distinguished career as an award winning makeup artist spans more than three decades with a range of experience that crosses over from film and television, to theater and live performance. He has toured with Paul Simon, designed makeup for Broadway’s Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, and has film and television credits that include The Pentaverate, Bohemian Rapsody, Fringe, Amsterdam, The Magnificent Seven, Southpaw, Requiem for a Dream, Across the Universe, Evening, P.S. I Love You and The Ministers. But Louie is perhaps best known as the makeup department head at Saturday Night Live for the past 30 years. The accolades for his work are heard far and wide and he took home the Emmy Award 10 times for his work on SNL as well as other shows. We are all very proud of Louie and congratulate him on his success and “Father of the Year” award!
The event organizing committee did an outstanding job delivering high quality entertainment with a fun and vibrant ambiance. We express our deep appreciation to our hard-working Committee members: Arpiné Bezdikian, Talar Aprahamian, Lena Felice, Jeanette Nenejian and Yn. Annie Terterian. We thank them for their countless hours of planning and hard work preparing for this event. In addition, a special thank-you to Loucine Megherian, Annita Nerses, Katia Tavitian, and Lori Varjabedian for lending a helping hand on Saturday to prepare the food and set-up the hall.
A great time was had by all!