Everybody’s Greek come Labor Day weekend in Columbus. With the 35th annual Greek Festival in town, Columbus locals of all descents can experience Greek culture with enough food, dance, music and art to make everyone yell, Opa!

“I can’t even quantify the amount the man and woman hours put into this event. It’s an unbelievable Herculean effort,” Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral representative Stacey Stathulis says.

The four-day festival, held Friday, Aug. 31 – Monday, Sept. 1, will be celebrated in the gateways of Downtown Columbus and the Short North at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral. There, patrons can experience centuries-old heritage and tradition with family recipes, folk dancing and imported gifts at the landmark cathedral, reminiscent of Orthodox churches in Greece. Overall, the Greek Festival is a fundraiser for the cathedral, which serves hundreds of families and believes in being a good corporate citizen of Columbus, donating a part of their budget to Central Ohio charities every year.

At the festival, Greek cuisine takes center stage as a little spice and big flavor meets the noses of hungry patrons. In food tents, festival goers can try a wide variety of Greek cooking from roasted lamb to fast food options like gyro, souvlaki, loukaniko, saganaki or Greek pizza. An indoor gourmet food menu also includes pastitsio (Greek lasagna), moussaka, keftedes (Greek meatballs), grape leaves, Greek salad and cheese or spinach pies.

Cooking demonstrations, which have become wildly popular at previous festivals, will offer patrons the chance to learn how to make their favorite Greek dishes. About 25to 30 demonstrations will be made during the weekend, then a cookbook with recipes from the kitchens of Central Ohio’s Greek community will be available to purchase so that attendees can bring Greek cooking home after the festival ends.

Greek culture also comes to life at the festival through dance, music and art. The Junior, Zoee and Evzone Greek folk dancers will dress in costume and perform traditional dances for audiences. Following performances, the audience is encouraged to try out Greek dancing for themselves during free “Learn to Dance Greek” lessons given by the performing dance troupes.

Music will be provided by the Hellenic Singers, singing a collection of Greek folk songs, and by pianist George Skaroulis who returns this year with a concert of contemporary instrumental music.
Greek artisans and vendors will also attend, selling a variety of imported jewelry, leather goods, find linens, home goods and more. Artists, such as editorial features illustrator for The Columbus Dispatch Evangelia Phillipidis and watercolorist Pantelis Zographos, will also make appearances at the festival, as well as Fr. Nicholas from St. Theodore who will be prayerfully hand-crafting Byzantine icons.

Festival hours are Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight, Sunday from noon to midnight and Monday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission tickets are $4 for adults, $3 for senior citizens and free for children under 12. Tickets are good for all four days of the festival. For more information, visit the cathedral’s Web site at www.greekcathedral.com.