Local temple celebrates Chanukah with gift fair and festival of lights

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A northeast Fresno temple is celebrating Chanukah after getting together sharing food and gifts earlier on Sunday.

The festival of lights started at sundown, but before the holiday started, Temple Beth Israel held its annual holiday gift fair and Chanukah bazaar.

Vendors sold gifts ranging from beads to baubles to the paintings of Barbara Mulligan, who turns 92 on Tuesday.

"I hadn't been painting for years and I just got started again in the last five years. Family interrupted the art, so I'm really enjoying it in my elderly years now. It's what I live for," Mulligan said.

The food is also a big deal at this fair every year, including the so-called Jewish penicillin -- otherwise known as matzo ball soup.

Chanukah celebrates the re-dedication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and the miracle of one day's worth of candle oil lasting for eight days.

Along with lighting a candle on the menorah for each of the eight nights, they also enjoy food cooked in oil like potato latkes.