The 98th Annual Greek Festival, hosted by the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church of Bayard, will be held Saturday August 17th at the Prairie Winds Community Center in Bridgeport.
Greek Festival Committee Member Nicole Dean tells Panhandle Post that the church in Bayard carries with it a rich history: "Our church has been around for 98 years...it started with a group of Greek immigrants, and as we're nearing our centennial we have certainly grown to include many people in the surrounding communities of the panhandle. We are really glad to be able to offer this event as a fundraiser for our parish.
"It is open to anyone and everyone who is interested in coming. We appreciate all the support from our communities, and you definitely do not have to be Greek or have any ties to the Greek community to attend."
As Dean explains, the event is made up of two different staging areas: "The event is split into two different portions. The first is the outside festival, which is held right there at the Prairie Winds Community Center in Bridgeport at 1:30. People will come in to Greek music and a handful of different food options. The bar will be open at that time. We will have the Athenian dancers perform outside at 2:30pm. We'll have two cooking demonstrations, the first one at 2:00pm and the second at 3:30pm.
"At 4pm, the inside festival, which is a little bit larger, will open up inside the gymnasium at the community center. Homemade Greek pastries will open up at 4:00pm. Our Athenian dancers will perform in full costume at 6:30pm inside the gym."
Genuine Greek cuisine is a large part of the day's events. Tasty treats for every appetite include baklava, pork souvlakia (pork kebobs), a variety of delectable pastries, Greek Nachos, and...to raise a glass for a toast...ouzo!
An event like this just doesn't happen without a lot of help from a lot of people. As Dean notes, "All the volunteers, for the most part, are members of our parish...the festival started so many years ago as a celebration of our church's nameday. In Orthodox churches, your church is named after a particular saint, or a feast day which is a particular time celebrated each year to mark a special event in the life of the church. And so our church is named The Assumption, which has to do with the Virgin Mary. August 15th is our church's feast day every year.
"It's a wonderful undertaking that we are happy to do for our church and we love including the Greek heritage and being able to share that with all our neighbors."