Everything Greek you can possibly imagine will be the order of the day at the upcoming Greek Festival.

Greek food from the famous gyro and Greek salad, fried smelt, calamary and octopus, and stuffed grape leaves, to beer, wines, a bouzouki band, dancing performances, storytelling and historic and religious talks will all be apart of the two-day festival that will be held February 21-22 at the historic Greek Orthodox Church grounds on West Street.

The festival, which began in the mid-2000s, is held every two years and for those that have never been to the Greek Festival, this is the year to get acquainted with one of the much-loved festivals, according to festival committee chairperson Leah Klonaris, as the next festival will not be held until 2017.

“If you missed out it’s definitely time to come out and see what we have because it’s a unique experience in Nassau and something that gets bigger and better every time,” to try not to miss it this year. The next one won’t be held until 2017.”

Fabulous prizes will be up for grabs in the silent auction bidding war — four days, three nights at the Cove with dinner for four at Mosaic; four days, three nights at the Royal Towers with dinner for four at Marketplace; Dinner for four at Café Martinique; three days, two nights at The Sandpiper Inn, Schooner Bay, Abaco, plus airfare; Junkanoo entrance package for four at the Greek Islands Restaurant and dinner for two at Olives Meze Grill.

The Greek Orthodox Church priest will also give religious talks; local historian expert, Pericles Maillis, who is known for his talks on the history of Greeks in The Bahamas and Greek history in general, will also give a talk. Both presentations are expected to be very interesting for those people that want to know more about Greek religious culture and history. Souvenir items as well as cultural items and CDs and books will also be available.

“The church building is a historic landmark, and the festival provides people with a great opportunity to go inside and hear more about our history in The Bahamas, so it’s a good all-around cultural experience,” said Klonaris.

At the 2013 festival an average of 4,000 patrons passed through the festival on a daily basis. The festival committee chair said they are anticipating even more people.

“We keep expanding the site, so it’s getting bigger and bigger in our little corner of Nassau, especially as the festival has at least tripled in size. In the first couple of festivals we used only the church grounds, but eventually we expanded across the street into the parking areas, and also the street itself, so it’s obviously grown quite a lot,” she said.

The festival doors open at 12 noon daily and parties on until the last person says “opa”. There is no official end time.

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