The first Greek Festival was hosted 68 years ago at the Long Beach Greek Church located on Pacific Avenue and 17th Street. Bobbie Soupos, media coordinator of the Long Beach Greek Festival and Cultural Event, said that the first festival consisted of only a few tents with vendors.
“We moved [the festival] here in 1981,” she said. Today, the festival is composed of several food and artisan vendors, cultural music and dancing, cooking demonstrations, carnival rides and guided tours of the interior of the church.
An assorted number of Greek foods and pastries will be sold to the public during the event. Soupos said that preparation for some of the baking began in June. “We aren’t even through with [baking] yet,” she said.
Aside from the food, the festival attempts to display Greek culture to the Long Beach community through other art forms.
Individuals from all regions of Greece have put in time to work for the festival, Soupos said. Some coming from the mainland and others hailing from the islands off the coast of the Mediterranean nation.
Soupos said that she is familiar with city of Athens, spending nine weeks there, stating that it is very similar to Western cities.
“You shop and go to the market there just like you would here,” she said.
Nonetheless, the festival aims to dig deep into original Greek culture putting on dance shows and playing music from the country.
A band called The Olympians is set to perform the live music alongside traditional folk dancers.
The festival is put on every year in an attempt to raise money for the church’s cultural center.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Screen-Shot-2016-09-01-at-4.19.24-PM.png” credit=”Sebastian Echeverry | Signal Tribune” align=”right” lightbox=”on” caption=”Employees of an event-planning company called Dolphin set up canopies where vendors are going to be located during the annual Greek Festival. The festival is hosted by The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church to raise money to help fund community services.” captionposition=”right”] Just recently, the church built a basketball court on the premises for the youth of the community. According to Soupos, funding for projects similar to the basketball court is collected by the festival.
“We just want to bring more young people here,” she said.
The festivities will take place Saturday, Sept. 3 through Monday, Sept. 5 from noon to 9pm on the church grounds.
Admission to the festival is $3. Military personnel in uniform or with proper ID and children under 12 years of age are admitted for free.
Soupos said that approximately 20,000 to 22,000 people attend the yearly festival.
More information about the Greek Festival can be found at lbgreekfest.org.
