More than 3,000 people turned out Sunday for the Third Annual St. Charles Jewish Festival making it the largest Jewish gathering in the history of St. Charles, according to Chabad Jewish Center of St. Charles County, who hosted the event.
The event took place outside the Foundry Art Centre, celebrating Jewish life and culture and bringing Jewish sights and sounds from around the world to St. Charles.
This year, organizers planned a new addition: the ‘Shtetl Village,’ which took participants back in time to a whimsical reenactment of life in the shtetl — the small Eastern European Jewish town that was a hallmark of Old World Jewish life for centuries. The shtetl, made famous in Fiddler on the Roof, also included crafts, traditional delicacies, and a petting zoo to complete the rural village feel.
Photos from the event
All photos courtesy of C. Smyth Photography for Chabad
