Thu 8/18 @ 4-10PM
Fri 8/19 @ 4-11PM
Sat 8/20 @ noon-11PM
Sun 8/21 @ noon-9PM
If you’ve ever wanted to get a taste of another culture, this is the time of year when area churches have their festivals — Italian, Romanian, Egyptian, Hungarian and more. That’s when the church ladies whip out the recipes passed down from their great-grandparents in the old country and the kids get to show off show well they can execute those old folk dances.
This week Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Cleveland Heights holds its 59th annual festival. For four days you can consume the same moussaka, pastitsio and spanakopita my Aunt Catherine in Fort Wayne used to make. Will there be any avgolemono (egg lemon soup?) My father used to make a killer version of that! And yes, there will be Greek wines and Greek coffee to wash it all down. You can chow down in the air-conditioned dining hall or outside if the weather cooperates.
But don’t just go to eat, although that is definitely one of the biggest attractions. There will be Greek bands performing Greek music and dancers in traditional costumes. Vendors will be selling jewelry, artwork, ceramics, videos, books and CDs, mostly from Greece or relating to Greek culture, and there’s a huge flea market in the church basement. Plus there will be free cooking classes showing you how to make classic Greek pastries like baklava.
And if you want to delve into the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, cathedral dean Father Stephen Callos will be leading tours of the building and explaining the background of the architecture and design and what all those ornate icons mean.
Festival admission is free. There’s a shuttle from the Severance Town Center parking lot.