Yiassou, y’all!
The Central Georgia Greek Festival is getting ready to kick off its 12th year on Friday, October 25 with a weekend full of music, dancing, arts & crafts vending, friendly camaraderie, and hands-down some of the best food you’ll ever taste! Held at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church, this beloved event invites community members to learn more about both Greek culture and the Greek Orthodox faith. Parish Priest Father Theodore Ehmer offers tours of the beautiful church building all weekend long, Marietta’s Hellenic Dancers are on hand to perform traditional and modern dance shows– in full costume– for attendees, George Karras and Themis Kakais will be sharing their musical talents, and vendors will be selling Greek-imported clothing, hand-crafted pottery, wood carvings, and more.
And the food! The food will have you coming back all three days! There are gyros– choose from the traditional lamb and beef, or chicken– smothered with tangy, addictive tzatziki sauce. Don’t miss the heavenly spanakopita, a layered phyllo dough pastry wrapped around spinach and feta cheese and baked ‘til crispy and golden. There’s also Greek salad, dolmades, pastitsio, souvlaki, and several combo plates mixing and matching these mouthwatering offerings. A delightful array of Greek pastries await your sweet tooth, ice cream (including the popular baklava sundae) is available, and if you know what’s good for you, you won’t sleep on the loukoumades, small perfect Greek-style donuts drizzled with honey and dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon. A couple of these with a cup of strong Greek coffee is pure heaven. If you want something stronger than coffee, beer & wine– domestics and Greek imports alike– are available, and you can keep it traditional with a shot or two of Ouzo, too. Happy Hour is from 4pm-6pm each day.
Profits from the Central Georgia Greek Festival support The Children’s Hospital and other local charities. If you’d like to show your support early and possibly even win some cold hard cash in the process, the festival has raffle tickets on sale now. $2 gets you one ticket, or you can buy a book of 6 for just $10. At 2:30 pm on Sunday, October 27, the last day of the festival, the drawing will be held. Five people will win $100 each, and one lucky winner will win the grand prize of $500. And if you don’t win cash, don’t fret– each ticket contains 4 coupons that’ll save you over $20 on special deals at Papouli’s, Greek Corner Pizza, Greek Village Restaurant, and Margaritas at Mercer Village. Interested? Email festival@holycross.ga.goarch.org.
Times and dates for this year’s festival:
Friday, October 25 – 11 am – 10 pm
Saturday, October 26 – 11 am – 10 pm
Sunday, October 27 – 11 am – 3 pm