[Baltimore Sun] Greek festival in Baltimore has kept culture alive through food for more than half a century
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The smell of warm butter filled the kitchen at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation in Mount Vernon.
That’s because there was butter, everywhere: in clear plastic squeeze bottles; on silicone basting brushes; melting in a massive pot on the stove.
And — in case there was ever any doubt — Eleni Roros was there, too, to encourage more than a dozen volunteers not to be shy about their butter usage as they assembled hefty trays of spanakopita for the church’s annual Greek Festival that begins Friday and runs through Sunday.
Roros, wearing an apron that said “When life gives you lemons, make avgolemono,” circled the room to inspect their progress. Avgolemono, a creamy, tangy sauce made of lemon and egg yolk that’s a staple of Greek cuisine, wasn’t on the day’s menu. But spanakopita, another traditional dish, was. In a matter of hours, the group would prepare 93 trays of the flaky phyllo pastry stuffed with spinach and ricotta.
The spanakopita assembly process is rather involved, so “if you’re going to make it, you make it in quantity,” Roros explained. For the festival, abundance is the goal. Food is a main lure for the event, which draws visitors from around the region to taste Greek culture and cuisine.
Like the festival, which marks 52 years in 2024, the gathering of church members and volunteers to produce loads of Greek food has become a yearly tradition in the weeks leading up to the main event.
This weekend gathering in early April was dedicated to spanakopita, but volunteers had filled the church the week before to make stuffed grape leaves. On the agenda for the weekend to follow: trays of cookies dusted with powdered sugar.
That’s just a sliver of the spread set for the festival this Memorial Day weekend.
Under white tents on Preston Street, volunteers from the Greek Orthodox church will serve pastitsio, a sort of Greek lasagna with ground meat and bechamel sauce, rice pudding and “Shrimp Athenian” smothered in marinara sauce, feta cheese and wine. There’s moussaka, another lasagna-like dish stuffed with roasted eggplant, honey-drizzled fried puffs called loukoumades and tyropita, a cheese pie. The braised lamb shanks are “exceedingly popular,” said Gayle Economos, a church member and spokeswoman for the event.
“We have people from the community at large come with a cart to buy platters and freeze them,” Economos said. “They say, ‘Wow, I have food for three months.’”
The church’s first Greek festival, held in the fall of 1971, was called the “Athenian Agora.” The event took a year off in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, it’s one of two major fundraisers for the 118-year-old parish. The other, a flea market that takes place in late summer, sends more than 90% of its proceeds to the community, according to Economos, who said funds from the Greek festival go to the “good works of the church,” including donations to local charities.
In addition to the food, visitors to the festival can taste Greek wines, shop Greek-themed merchandise and take in musical and dance performances.
It’s a way to share Greek culture with the community and to keep ties strong among members of the church, too, said Pat Bartsocas, a longtime volunteer.
Bartsocas, 82, has been helping to prepare food for the festival for about three decades. She was joined in making spanakopita by her daughter, Helen Carroll, and granddaughter, Stephanie Carroll.
“What’s really heartening is the younger generation wants to learn,” Bartsocas said. “This is what keeps us together; it’s the glue. This church keeps us connected.”
Growing up, Stephanie Carroll, 28, met other local Greek Americans through the church as well as through a Greek dance troupe. Many — including George Roros, Eleni’s son, who also showed up to help make spanakopita — have become lifelong friends.
“It’s a great way to spend a productive Saturday,” Stephanie Carroll said of the festival prep. “I want to give back and also spend time with my yia yia,” she added, using the Greek term for grandmother.
Bartsocas, who ran a restaurant with her husband for many years, also specializes in making baklava for the Greek festival. The dessert, a layered concoction of nuts, honey and phyllo dough, takes three days of prep work, assembly and cooking, but Bartsocas waits to make it until the week before the event: “We don’t want to freeze the baklava,” she explained.
She’s made it a point to pass down traditional recipes to her daughter and granddaughter. It will be up to younger generations to keep the festival going for another 50 years.
“Yesterday, I went home and she was teaching us how to make a lentil soup,” said Stephanie Carroll.
“She makes better baklava than I do now,” Bartsocas said.
If you go
The Annunciation Cathedral Greek Food, Wine and Culture Festival is free and takes place, rain or shine, on May 24-25 from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. and May 26 from 11 a.m-7 p.m. 24 W. Preston St. baltimoregreekfestival.com
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