The St. Spyridon Greek Festival is celebrating two milestones this weekend—the 50th anniversary of the first festival and the 25th festival overall.
The festival has been held every other year since 1976.
“A lot of people have asked over the years, ‘Why don’t you do this every year?’” past festival chairperson Michael Dionis said, “and a big part of that is that even though we have so many volunteers, it’s physically crushing to everybody. It’s a year of preparation. So it’s good to keep it every two years because people forget how hard it is.”
But the hard work of at least 400 volunteers has been well worth it because so many people enjoy attending.
About 11,000 to 15,000 adults pay the $2 admission charge each year, but the number of attendees could approach 20,000 when you include the children aged 12 and under who attend free of charge. The festival pays for the maintenance of the St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Cathedral at 102 Russell St. It also helps fund the St. Spyridon’s Orthodox Food Pantry, which provides free groceries to about 200 people each Saturday in conjunction with the three other Orthodox churches in the city, and the cathedral’s Feeding Ministry, which serves free hot lunches once a month and delivers at least 300 box lunches to shelters once a month.
Funds raised by the festival also allowed St. Spyridon to join 11 other Orthodox churches to open Holy Trinity Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in 1994.
The festival features Greek food, music and dancing, but Dionis, 67, a member of the parish council, said about three-quarters of the patrons are not Greek.
Bishop Robert McManus, head of the Catholic Diocese of Worcester, has attended the festival regularly. He’s a good friend of Father Dean Paleologos, the former longtime presiding priest at St. Spyridon and the father-in-law of Zoe Paleologos, festival chairperson.
Former U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas and former Gov. Michael Dukakis, both Greek, attended the festival often. So did former U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.
Mayor Joe Petty and City Manager Eric Batista are expected to attend this year as usual.
Zoe Paleologos will serve as festival chairperson for the second time, but she’s volunteered at the festival for nearly 40 years.
“It’s our biggest fundraiser, but putting that aside I do believe that the community comes together in a way like no other,” Paleologos said. “That’s why we all do it.”
Bands and DJs play music throughout the festival and Greek dancers perform at 6:30 p.m. Friday, 4 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. At the vendor marketplace in the church hall, local vendors sell everything from jewelry to wood cutting boards to nuts. Greek food and candy will be for sale and wine tasting will take place.
Parish council president Joanne Tsatis McMahan of Southborough is in charge of the vendor marketplace.
Father Christopher Stamas will provide free tours of the cathedral and longtime parishioners say they’ve learned a lot from them. About 50 non-Greeks have converted and joined St. Spyridon at least in part from attending the festival and taking a tour.
The main attraction, however, is the Greek food, all homemade by local Greek restaurateurs. The favorites are lamb shank, spinach and cheese pita and gyros, a wrap stuffed with meat, tomatoes, onions and tzatziki. Pastries are also a big hit, especially the baklava.
“Everything is done,” Paleologos said, “the way our grandmothers or grandfathers used to do it.”
About 130 people staff the food lines to help keep them moving under the huge tent behind the cathedral.
“If it’s someone who hasn’t been here before, they’re overwhelmed,” Dionis’ father Chris said. “The tent itself is overwhelming. It’s enormous.”
Curbside pickup will be offered this year for the first time. To order, visit gfwoo.com.
The St. Spyridon Greek Festival was the first ethnic festival of its size in New England and the first of any kind in Worcester when it debuted in 1976. Father George Stephanides had attended a Greek festival in California, the first held in the U.S., and when he came to St. Spyridon in 1974, he urged the parish council to hold a festival.
Some parishioners were skeptical so he downsized to holding a small food fair in 1975. The fair was so successful, the first Greek Festival was held the following year. The original plan was to hold the festival at the Worcester Memorial Auditorium, but the building lacked kitchen facilities. So the festival was held on the church grounds under a rented tent and about 10,000 people attended. The festival has been held there ever since and has been so popular a larger tent has been used. Father Stephanides returned to California after the 1978 festival.
“But the festival tradition continues because of him,” Chris Dionis said.
Chris Dionis, who will turn 93 on June 25, volunteered at the first festival and became festival chairperson for the second festival in 1978. He remembers a debate taking place early on about whether the festival should be about food or about showing the culture of their ancestors or about both. Everyone decided to do both and the festival continues to do so.
“What really binds everything together,” he said, “and makes it so marvelous is the faith in our church. With these forefathers who came here, we’re commemorating their memories and without this church binding us together, none of this festival really happens.”
The festival has been so successful, St. Spyridon parishioners have traveled to other churches to train them how to launch their own.
Michael Dionis remembers manning a roulette wheel in the first festival and he’s worked on the food line ever since.
One year, it rained so hard, a hole had to be cut in the top of the tent to drain the water so the tent wouldn’t collapse. Since then the festival has marched on with a larger and more durable tent.
The festival is open from noon until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon until 8 p.m. Sunday, rain or shine. Admission costs $2, but children aged 12 and under are admitted free of charge. The Greek dishes range from $10 to $30.
The festival has $15 VIP parking on a first-come, first-serve basis and free parking is available on nearby streets. New this year is a free shuttle van service from Doherty High School on Saturday and Sunday.
Bill Doyle has been a professional journalist for 47 years, most of them as a sports writer for the Telegram & Gazette. He covered the Boston Celtics for 25 years and has written extensively about golf, boxing and local high school and college sports. He also worked for the campus newspaper when he attended UMass-Amherst. He can be reached at billdoyle1515@gmail.com
