St. Eugene International Food & Music Festival

Wendell's town square gives over a Saturday to international food and live music, run by St. Eugene Catholic Church. Entry is free and you pay for what you eat, which is the right model for an event whose entire point is the food.

Church-run food festivals are consistently among the best eating in this county, and the reason is structural. The cooking is done by people making dishes they grew up with, in volume, for a congregation that will tell them if it is wrong. There is no central kitchen flattening everything to the same profile.

How to approach it:

• Walk the whole square before buying anything
• Buy small from several stalls rather than a full plate from one
• Bring cash. Some stalls at events like this are card-ready and some are not.
• Eat before the 1 p.m. rush if you want to talk to the cooks

The music runs through the day alongside the food, and the square is compact enough that you are never far from either.

For Wake Forest readers this is an easy run east, and Wendell's downtown has been steadily worth the trip in its own right. If you are making the drive, the square is the center of everything, so park once and walk.

Free to enter.