Opa! Halifax Greek Fest returns to the city for 39th year

The Halifax Greek Festival runs through Sunday and offers a taste of Greece in the heart of Halifax.

From iconic Greek dishes to cultural performances, the Halifax Greek Fest kicked off at St. George’s Greek Orthodox Church on Thursday.

“Our founding fathers and mothers wanted to put together an event that would showcase Greek culture, when they immigrated over from Greece many years ago,” says Jana Kyreakakos, an organizer for the four-day event.

“It’s also a really big fundraiser for our church. That’s the biggest part of this is really trying to keep the doors of our church open”

Three-hundred volunteers worked around-the-clock for opening day, which was filled with music, entertainment and traditional Greek food.

“To put together an event of this magnitude takes a lot of effort. From donations, to behind-the-scenes food prep, and administrative staff, managerial staff, it all needs to come together to put together an event of this magnitude,” says Kyreakakos.

Nearly 4,000 donairs will be made over the next four days, along with hundreds of chicken souvlaki plates.

“We draw in not only Greeks, but those people that are not part of the Greek community that come in and just love the culture or love learning Greek or, you know, learning how to make all of the desserts, that’s one big thing. We have people come in that want to just learn how to make a baklava.”

The event will wrap up Sunday at 10 p.m.

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