SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – The 33rd annual Greek Festival kicked off Friday in Spartanburg. The three-day event offers a variety of Greek food, live music and cultural items.
Organizers are aiming to build on last year’s attendance, which marked the festival’s best crowd to date. Visitors can sample traditional Greek dishes, watch dance performances and browse goods from local vendors.
Food serves as a primary attraction for festival attendees. Inside the venue, volunteers work in assembly lines to prepare dinner platters featuring marinated pork, spanakopita, potatoes and green beans, while outdoor booths offer gyros and fresh-squeezed lemonade.
Kiki Couchell serves as the Greek Festival chairwoman.
“We really don’t have a restaurant in Spartanburg, you know, that makes the dinners like we make in here,” Couchell said.
She noted that festival preparations begin months in advance.
“We start preparing in May or June. We have to do that because one particular pastry, we make 3000 of them,” Couchell said.
Cultural performances are also featured throughout the festival grounds. Couchell highlighted the live entertainment available to visitors of all ages.
“We have a Greek band, and we have the dancers from the church with authentic costumes,” Couchell said.
Local vendors contribute to sharing Greek and Mediterranean history through artwork and crafts.
Siri Ghazal, a vendor participating for his sixth year, displays jewelry, ancient Roman and Byzantine coins, and what he says are Holy Land glass items.
For attendees, the annual event offers a rare opportunity to experience Greek food and tradition locally.
Spartanburg resident William Lockwood said he makes a point to visit the festival every year.
“There’s not really much of a food or a cultural kind of Greek presence in Spartanburg. So again, that’s another reason why it’s nice to come out here,” Lockwood said.
The Greek Festival remains open Friday until 9 p.m. at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church on Asheville Highway in Spartanburg.
The festival will be open from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by WSPA. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat information into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by WSPA staff before being published.
