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4-day Greek Summerfest thrives on its unique, tantalizing aromaSFlb
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
It was all about the food for lunchtime visitors to the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church’s Greek Summerfest.
The smell of traditional Greek food filled the air. Pastries lined one wall in the church, and lunch and dinner foods lined another at the event Saturday.
Megan Reed of Youngstown looks forward to the festival each year.
“I just love Greek food, and I love spanakopita,” she said.
Spanakopita is thin layers of filo pastry stuffed with spinach and cheeses.
This is Reed’s third year attending the four-day festival.
“We skipped breakfast, so I said we have to come here and eat the spanakopita,” Reed said. “And also the gyros are amazing.”
Her friend, Michael Rosati, also of Youngstown, agreed.
“You can smell it as you walk up, so you gotta go with the gyro,” he said.
Both agreed the food was worth skipping breakfast.
“I have never had spanakopita that good,” Reed said. “I literally wait a year for it.”
The festival has been taking place for more than 20 years, said Socrates Kolitsos, president of the parish council.
“It continues to grow,” he said. “The crowds have been overwhelming. People who may have come 20 years ago continue to come.”
The event is a celebration of the congregation’s Greek roots, Kolitsos said.
“We’re basically looking at the traditions and the culture and the music and the food and the pastries,” he said. “We figured that this is one way of celebrating our past and celebrating life today, and inviting the entire community to be a part of it, making them honorary Greeks for the weekend.”
Bege Bowers and Stephanie Tingley, both of Youngstown, enjoyed being honorary Greeks for the weekend.
“I came yesterday,” Bowers said. “And it was so good yesterday I decided to come back.”
The cheese pie is her favorite.
Tingley stopped in for lunch on her way to the Summer Festival of Arts.
She visits the Greek fest every year, she said.
“I never miss coming down for this,” she said. “It’s close to the festival [of arts], and the quality of the food is good, can’t go wrong. I have a hard time choosing, especially the desserts.”
The event also includes an auction, a trash and treasure sale, sales of religious items, tours of the church and traditional Greek dancing.
This year’s event includes a raffle for two season tickets to the Ohio State Buckeyes. Raffle tickets are $100 each, and only 100 will be sold.
The Greek Summerfest continues today.