Taste of Greek at St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church, Minneapolis (08 Sep 2018)

We attended the 30th Anniversary of the Minneapolis Taste of Greek festival on Saturday. This annual event is hosted by the St. Mary’s Greek Orthodox Church, overlooking Lake Calhoun (or now called Bde Maka Ska).

Finding parking and driving in the area can be a challenge because of the large crowd the festival attracts. There are always bicycling and bus avenues you can take, so look into those options if you don’t want the hassle of driving and finding parking.

The festival is free, and any donated money or food ticket you purchase ($1 per ticket), benefit the church and various charitable organizations. Food prices are what you would expect to pay in these type of events. Food options seemed to be divided in two areas: the lunch and dinner can be found outside, while all the pastry and dessert options can be found inside the church.

Food seems to be the star of “Taste of Greek”, almost everyone that attended ended up trying out various Greek food, from gyros to pastitsio to loukoumades (those fried honey-dipped dough).

The St. Mary’s Hellenic Dancers kept attendees entertained, dancing every hour between the two stages (indoors and outdoors). For the daytime, there were two leagues: a younger, junior group and youth dancers. After 6pm, the Greek Dancers of Minnesota would take over the dancing options.

As for music, there were two bands on the bill: The Levendes (John, Mark, and Nick – not to be confused with another The Levendes quartet?) playing the outdoor stage and the Chris & Callie Kalogerson Greek Band playing the great hall indoors.

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