The Greek Fest sponsored by Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral and the local Greek community was held last weekend. As happened last year, the Greek Fest coincided with the Bayou St. John Bayou Boogaloo festival, so hard choices had to be made. (Although the energetic and the enterprising could have squeezed in both, at least theoretically. The Times-Picayune suggested renting canoes at the Greek Fest and then paddling your way to the Boogaloo -- I don't know how many people actually did that though.)
Big Man had a gig at the Boogaloo with Russell Batiste's band on Saturday, with requirements to arrive at least an hour early, so that meant no Greek Fest for us on that day. Since (loyal readers of this blog may recall) last year we missed the roast lamb-on-a-spit by going to the Greek Fest on the Sunday, we were determined not to miss out this year. And so, with this in mind, we arrived at the Greek Fest on Friday within a few minutes of the gates opening for the first time. (We were so early that they hadn't put the rock-climbing wall upright yet!) We were happy to be among the first in line to get our pound of roast lamb (and then another pound to take home.)
All three days of the Greek Fest (sign out front: "Be Greek for Three Days!") were heavily overcast with grey and even black clouds, but it never did rain much (there was some misting or drizzling on Sunday evening, but that was it), but as many folks know, festivals with clouds are the best ones. The Greek community had done a little rearranging of the festival layout, and completely eliminated the Porta-Potties, electing to go with the luxury model air conditioned trailer with flush toilets and running water sinks --a good decision! Those folks keep the extensive lawn of the church grounds in excellent shape -- full, lush, and thick, it's like a comfortable green carpet. The view on the bayou was sweet, and there were ample breezes. Really lovely festival weather.
The people-watching was superb. In addition to the attractive members of the Greek Orthodox community, of all ages and genders, there were African-Americans and Latinos and Indian-Americans and white of all kinds. It was like a virtual festival United Nations. Sunday was especially fun, since it had been advertised that folks in "family-friendly" togas would get in free, and be eligible for a Toga Contest. There were some sights, believe you me! We saw the woman who won, an older lady of apparent Greek lineage, whose elegant and tasteful toga made her into a goddess. We gave her props for sure.
In addition to the fabulous succulent roast lamb, there was also fried calamari with feta cheese, feta fries (French fries with feta), souvlaki, gyros, and a full Greek dinner with 3 courses. (Good trick: on Sunday evening, as the festival draws to a close, the ladies in the cafeteria line really heap your plate, just piling it up, all for the same reasonable price.) There was a wealth of Greek and American alcohol to imbibe (judging from all the empty ouzo bottles in the trash, there were lots of hangovers round the city), pomegranate iced tea (yum!), fresh lemonade, sodas, Greek coffee (iced and hot). For dessert, there were booths selling Greek pastries, either singly or in "express boxes" with a nice assortment. There was also a killer baklava sundae (like baklava NEEDS ice cream and chocolate syrup, right?) and something they were calling "Greek beignets" covered in Greek honey. (A kids area had snowballs and hot dogs, but that doesn't really count.)
Inside the community center, past the cafeteria, a Greek grocery store had been created. Six kinds of Greek cheeses were available (we bought five), along with pitas and Greek loaf breads, olives, frozen trays of homemade Greek entrees to take home, eggplant, feta, and fish rose dips in plastic containers, orzo mixes, Greek salad olive oil, salad dressing, and (yum!) Greek honey infused with pear. There were natural sponges from off the coast of Greece for your bath, and wonderful hard-milled soaps made of Greek olive oil. There was also canned goods and pottery. You could've spent a fortune in there, but we managed to escape with about $40 worth of groceries, money well spent.
Booths around the periphery of the festival grounds sold art, jewelry, candles, perfume, religious icons, clothing for both sexes and for children, and the ubiquitous belly-dancer scarves with the jangly border of tiny faux coins. (They must've sold a ton of those, since every woman under the age of 40 had apparently bought one and immediately tied it around her hips.)
The Greek group Alpha-Omega displayed great musicianship and sense of style, and huge numbers of people, both Greek and non-Greek, were dancing in the dance floor area in front of the stage. Giant speakers were set up around the grounds, so that the music was everywhere.
Friday we had been kind of rushed, since Big Man had to get to Bourbon Street for his regular gig, but Sunday afternoon and evening there was no rush. It was a sweet to be there, with the other New Orleanians turning Greek for one weekend, eating ourselves silly, enjoying music, and watching the interesting and attractive people go by.
On the edge of Bayou St. John, under a large oak, someone had set up a giant soft electric light in a paper globe lantern. As the sun went down and the sky darkened, it was like a lovely full moon dipping down to light the ending of the festival.
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