New Orleans Greek Festival Returns
The New Orleans Greek Festival brings Greek food, music, traditions and activities to Bayou St. John every Memorial Day weekend.
The festival is hosted by the Holy Greek Orthodox Cathedral and has grown to be an annual event attracting thousands of attendees each year. This year's festival theme is "Your Odyssey Begins Here," according to the website.
The festival takes place at the Hellenic Cultural Center at 1200 Allen Toussaint Blvd. and runs for three days. It will begin on Friday, May 22 from 5 p.m to 11p.m., Saturday, May 23 from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday, May 24 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. The event offers a full weekend of entertainment, cuisine, and activities.
Food & Cuisine
In terms of cuisine, members of the local Greek Orthodox community prepare a wide variety of homemade Greek delicacies, dishes, and desserts that reflect Greek flavors and recipes. Visitors can enjoy meat-filled gyros, souvlaki, grilled lamb racks, and Greek salads. The festival's bakery is also popular, featuring Greek specialities like baklava and galaktoboureko, known for their nut and honey flavors.
The festival will also offer a pastitsio dinner, which combines tiropita and keftedes, which are Greek meatballs, along with a Greek salad and dolmades wrapped in grape leaves. The Mezedes Booth will also be returning an assortment of small plates that are designed to be shared.
Entertainment
The festival will also feature live music and a myriad of performances throughout the weekend. Traditional Greek bands will provide a soundtrack for the celebration, and Thymios Partales and his Greek-American Super Band will be a featured performance. There will also be Hellenic Dancers that will perform folk dances in traditional costumes.
The festival will also offer cathedral tours to connect festival-goers with the Orthodox community. The tours will take place on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m., and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The tours give visitors an opportunity to see inside the historic Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral and learn about the traditions of the faith.
In addition to this, there will be a marketplace with two main areas for shopping. The first will be located inside and offer Greek grocery products and Holy Trinity archives, and the second area is located outside, offering vintage posters, pastries, and more.
Greek Festival Run & Walk
The Greek Festival Run and Walk is another event associated with the festival, taking place on Saturday morning before the festival opens at 11 a.m. The event includes a 5k race and a one mile kids run. Participants also receive early access to the festival grounds as part of their registration. Those interested can register online.
Additional Details
Those interested can register online to gain access to the festival. Also, this year, the festival will be going cashless, so all transactions made at the event will use card or digital payment.
