Spit-roasted lamb, sizzling cevapi sausages and platters of sarma cabbage rolls will fill the grounds of St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church tomorrow, as Indy Serb Fest marks its 10th year of celebrating Serbian culture, food and community. The free festival runs from noon to 10 p.m. at 7855 Marsh Road in Indianapolis, with free on-site parking for guests.
The event, first reported by WISH-TV, offers authentic Serbian food, live music, traditional dancing and family-friendly activities, including a playground for kids. Beyond the lamb and cevapi, the menu stretches to stuffed peppers and baked meat pastries known as burek, according to a report from Finding Faith. Attendees can wash it down with Serbian beer and wine, and finish with traditional desserts like palacinke crepes and krofne doughnuts, per that same account.
A Decade of Growth Rooted in a Much Older Tradition
Indy Serb Fest's 10th anniversary as a standalone event actually traces back further than a decade. St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church originally co-launched Indianapolis's first Balkan Fest on August 9, 1992, partnering with St. Stephens Bulgarian and SS. Constantine and Elena Romanian Orthodox churches before St. Nicholas began sponsoring Serb Fest on its own, according to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. The parish itself dates back even further, having been officially founded on March 12, 1950, by a committee led by Father Dushan Klipa of South Bend, with early worship services held at the Yugoslav National Home on West 16th Street.
Live Serbian music and traditional kolo dancing anchor the festival's cultural programming. Kolo is a traditional Serbian folk dance in which dancers form a chain and move together in circular patterns, and UNESCO officially inscribed the dance on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2017, per UNESCO's own records.
Proceeds Fund a New Byzantine-Style Sanctuary
Event proceeds benefit St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church, supporting the parish's charitable efforts, community outreach programs and daily operations, per the festival's organizers. Visitors can also tour the church's new construction project on-site, a new sanctuary designed in traditional Orthodox architectural style that incorporates distinctive Byzantine elements.
The construction fund has taken on added significance in recent months. Following the death of former parish priest Very Rev. Mihailo Mikic in June 2026, memorial gifts were directed toward the sanctuary construction fund, according to Flanner Buchanan Funeral Centers. The parish's current priest, Very Rev. Dragan Petrovic, has served St. Nicholas since September 27, 1998, after being appointed by regional diocesan leadership, per the church's own history.
A Parish With Deep Local Roots
St. Nicholas operates under the jurisdiction of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of New Gracanica-Midwestern America, headquartered in Lake Villa, Illinois, according to the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of New Gracanica-Midwestern America. The parish's community outreach extends well beyond the festival grounds. Its Sunday Church School was established in 1950 by three local Indianapolis Public Schools educators, Dorothy Milivojac, Yovanka Savich, and Steve Yerich, per the church's historical records.
St. Nicholas is also the founding home of the St. Nicholas Mountain Club, a men's wilderness spiritual ministry that was featured in the 2024 documentary film Beyond the Peak, according to the American Srbobran. For festival details and updates, organizers post information at the event's Facebook page, www.facebook.com/indyserbfest.
