By Mark Ambrogi
Even though Indy GreekFest’s attendance in 2016 wasn’t quite as large as 2015, festival attendees still managed to consume 600 pounds of lamb and 2,120 pounds of gyro meat.
GreekFest president/co-chair Marika Kalyvas Bagios hopes pleasant weather will help the festival surpass those figures this year.
GreekFest, the 44th Indianapolis Greek Festival, is set for Aug. 25 through 27 at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 3500 W. 106th St., Carmel.
The festival runs 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 25, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 26 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 27.
“Since we don’t charge admission, it’s hard to determine exact attendance number but we figure between 15,000 and 20,000 last year (for the three days),” said Kalyvas, who is in her second year as event president. “The year before we had a tremendous turnout because the weather was perfect. There were no football games. Last year, the rain kind of took us out of it a little (Friday), but we made up for it on Saturday and Sunday.”
There will be live music and dancing, children’s activities, Greek wine and craft beer, an enchanted food court, authentic food and pastry, marketplace and agora and guided church tours.
The Hellenic Dance Troupe, featuring different age groups, kindergarten to second grade, third grade to fifth grade, middle school, high school and adults, will perform all three days.
There will be cooking demonstrations and puppet shows.
George Karras and his band will perform all three days.
“This is one of the major fundraisers for our church,” Kalyvas Bagios said.
There were approximately 550 community volunteers last year.
“A lot of church members bring their friends to volunteer and we get a lot of associations and groups that come and volunteer, like Indy Ambassadors and Park Tudor soccer team,” Kalyvas Bagios said.
Kalyvas Bagios said there is no set fundraising goal.
For more, visit indygreekfest.org.
Other fun facts from 2016 GreekFest
Last year, attendees to GreekFest went through:
- 12,720 pieces of pita bread
- 250 pounds of chicken & pork souvlaki
- 14,400 Spanakopitas (spinach pies)
- 240 pounds of calamari
- 68 gallons of tzatiki sauce
- 7,020 pieces of baklava
- 170 pounds of Greek olives
- 420 Bottles of wine
- 21 Kegs of beer
