Taste of Greece Festival

I'm a sucker for any kind of festival.  You could pick any food/activity/nationality and throw in the word, "festival," and I would be gung-ho for the experience, regardless of any genuine interest (or lack thereof) in the subject.

Give me a festival involving copious amounts of delicious Greek food, however, and I will turn cartwheels of joy (figuratively speaking).

The Greek festival is hosted by St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church in Minneapolis, a locale that I have run by a million times while on jaunts around Lake Calhoun but never ventured near.  On Irving between 34th and 35th Street, you could probably find it my aroma alone this weekend, with the distinctively delicious smells of gyro meat and feta and hot pita bread wafting around every corner.

Like any summertime festival (especially when the weather is this gorgeous), it's crowded and the line to order food is lengthy.  But the enthusiasm of the volunteers and the occasional, "opa!" forgive a lot of that wait time.  Part of the wait is due to the need to stand in separate lines to purchase food/wine tickets and the food itself.  I'm not a huge fan of the buy-food-tickets-and-then-buy-food concept, but I won't whine too much when the result is a happy one. Because the food really is delicious.  My mom and I split the chicken dinner and a large salad and then splurged on three desserts to share.  As we'd completed the Taste of Greece 5K minutes before, we figured we were entitled to a substantial amount of compensatory calories.  

And while the food was definitely the best part of the evening, there was also a great deal of other activities lined up to enjoy.  Live music, traditional Greek dress with explanations, a marketplace of pretty baubles and "Greek Girls Rock" tshirts, and wine tasting in the evening.

The festival runs all weekend and I can't think of a better way to enjoy the sunshine than with a big, fat gyro and a Mythos beer in hand.

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