Cyril Dimitroff's boyhood recollection of the Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center in West Homestead is of music, dancing, food, and children running around having fun. Nothing has changed.

"It's like watching a home movie over and over again" said the Brookline resident when he attended a recent Vecherinka with his wife, Eleanor, and daughter.

"It's in my blood," admitted his daughter Linda Dimitroff, who grew up dancing to the same music on the same floor, which has had a dip in the same spot all these years.

About 100 members and guests attended the Vecherinka, the name for a night of traditional Bulgarian and Macedonian music and dance held about seven times a year. They dined on mushroom "banitza,'' a kind of traditional bread, and kielbasa sandwiches.

Among the attendees were Iskra and Andrey Bogdanov, of Upper St. Clair, who spent the past five years in Sydney, Australia. "There's nothing like this," Mrs. Bogdanov said of the Mon Valley gathering spot that preserves the Eastern European culture.

The socials are preceded by free dance lessons from Joy Holden, of West Mifflin, who also teaches the center's dance ensemble, Otets Paissi.

Ms. Holden, who is of Serbian and Slovak descent, learned such ethnic dances as a member of the Junior Tamburitzans.

Besides its performing ensemble, the center has a museum, library, food vendors, a rental hall and stage, learning center, archives and a gift shop.

The center was co-founded in 1930 by immigrant Lambe Markoff as the Bulgaro-Macedonian Beneficial Association-Otets Paissi.

Mr. Markoff, who is Mr. Dimitroff's uncle, served as the social club's first president, holding meetings in his apartment until the present building on West Eighth Avenue was built in 1935.

While early members were predominantly of Bulgarian or Macedonian heritage, today's membership of 100 local families and 50 families who live elsewhere in the nation, is a mix of nationalities. They are all drawn to the culture, kinship, music and dancing, said club President Patricia French.

Ms. French, of Mt. Lebanon, recalled that as a child she attended Bulgarian classes upstairs to learn the language, customs, and history.

Although she disliked going because she wanted to play with her friends, she "thanks [her parents] every day of my life" for the education. It has led to her visiting Bulgaria 45 times since 1964, and to her becoming an interpreter for the U.S. Department of State.

Board member Diane Mohr, also of Mt. Lebanon, is of Ukrainian descent. She was introduced to Bulgaria through its food and wine four years ago by her neighbor, Ms. French.

"If we can create a center and an interest, then others can do it also," she said, noting that a group with ties to countries bordered by the Carpathian Mountains is seeking assistance in starting a similar center.

Last fall, the center received a gift of 238 travel, cultural, documentary and other films from the Bulgarian Embassy in Washington, D.C.

Around the same time a new building facade reflective of the traditional architecture of Bulgaria was completed.

Expansion and renovation are the goals of the current capital campaign to raise $1 million through grants and fund raising.

The ambitious project received a large boost with the recent awarding of a $150,000 grant through the U.S. Department of Interior's "Save our Treasures" program.

The center's most popular fund-raiser is its Saturday morning sale of homemade food items: stuffed peppers ($5 for 2), stew ($5), cheese banitza, ($6 for 12 pieces), and homemade soups, $4 and $5 per quart.

The take-out items, which can be purchased at the center from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturdays, September through May, fund most of the center's operating costs.

For more information, call 412-461-6188. The center is at 449 W. Eighth Avenue, West Homestead.