The Tucson Greek Festival highlights Hellenic culture through food, dance, music, spirits, vendors and interactive activities.
This year, the festival will be held on Friday, Nov. 14.
Many of the people who volunteer at or help to organize the event either attend, take Greek lessons or are part of dance groups at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church.
The festival has been hosted in Tucson for over 30 years. It stopped during the height of COVID and is returning this year.
Co-chair Peter Anadranistakis said he and other volunteers have worked hard to bring the event back. He said many community members have fond memories of the festival.
“Being Greek in Tucson, anytime I say my last name, and many Greeks say their name, people all say the same thing. People say, ‘When’s the Greek Festival coming back? I’ve been going to the Greek festival all my life, for over two decades. When’s it coming back?’ It’s a very large group of very passionate, kind, energetic and empathetic volunteers,” Anadranistakis said.
He said the event will have a very celebratory atmosphere.
“Greeks have this incredible zest for life. Greeks are very friendly. They’re very hospitable. They love having people into their homes. They love people being their guests in their homes,” Anadranistakis said.
All of the proceeds for the event will go towards local dance, youth and veteran’s community programs.
The event is moving to Downtown Tucson this year. It previously was held at the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church location on Fort Lowell.
“Approximately three years ago, the Fort Lowell location was sold, and a new location was purchased at 3939 North Alvernon. The location, although it’s very beautiful overlooking the Santa Catalina Mountains, has substantially less parking and substantially less space to host the festival. With some amazing supporters and some amazing sponsors, and with the kind, generous support and sponsorship from Rio Nuevo, we were able to secure a location downtown and bring it downtown into a very large mural parking lot across from the Monica,” Anadranistakis said.
Anadranistakis said this year the festival is partnering with DUSK, which is providing infrastructure such as staging and security fencing at a discounted rate or for free.
One of the highlights of the festival is always the food. There will be a variety of different savory and sweet items, including gyros, baklava, a meat skewer dish called souvlaki, spanakopita spinach pie, saganaki flaming cheese, kourabiedes butter cookies, koulourakia Easter cookies and loukoumades fried dough balls.
“Nothing is going to make the Greek Festival more successful than delicious food, just smelling that food in the air… Everything you can imagine from a Greek person’s table in their home or eating at a beautiful dining location in Greece, that’s what it’s going to feel like,” Anadranistakis said.
The food is being made in a traditional way, by people who are giving their time to support the festival.
“It’s going to be people who are volunteers in the Greek community, that have decades of recipes passed down to them from generation-to-generation. It’s going to be a very large volunteer effort from our Greek community, from our St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. It’s going to be a massive collaboration with some Greek restaurateurs that are in town as well,” Anadranistakis said.
There will be several bars throughout the festival, which will serve Greek beer, spirits such as Metaxa cognac and ouzo and white and red Greek wines.
Guests can also try non-alcoholic beverages such as Greek iced frappe coffees.
This year, the festival will have a new installation called “Yaya’s House.” There, attendees can take photos and pay tribute to their grandmothers.
“Yaya’ means grandmother in Greek. For anybody who’s ever gone to a grandmother’s house, there’s always lots of food, lots of desserts, lots of coffee. You are not allowed to leave without basically being so full and so delighted in conversation and food. It’s really a delight… A lot of yayas’ houses have doily-type tablecloths on their coffee table. There’s a way the lamps look. It’s an old-school style…People can honor their yaya by putting her picture and name up on a wall, whether she’s a Greek yaya or not. We’re trying to honor all grandmothers,” Anadranistakis said.
During the event, attendees will also have chances to vote for their favorite foods, play games and learn Greek words.
“One Greek word we want them to know is ‘philotimo.’ It’s means ‘love of mankind or love of neighbor.’ They can expect to really feel welcome, to really feel like they’re being Greek for a day and to feel they’re going to someone’s home,” Anadranistakis said.
Throughout the day, the festival will have entertainment from DJs, musicians and dance groups.
“It doesn’t matter what time of day you come or what time of night you come, you’re going to be fed. You’re going to be entertained. It’s going to be mesmerizing for the eyes and for all the senses,” Anadranistakis said.
Groups from Tucson and Phoenix will be performing traditional dances and wearing authentic costumes from different regions of Greece.
The dance groups will be made up of children, teens or adults.
Anadranistakis said the performances will be very interactive.
“There will be several performances that people can either dance along or clap along,” Andranistakis said.
Evangelia, a contestant in Greece’s Eurovision competition, will give a special performance at the festival. She previously performed with Thanos Petrelis in Tucson in 2023.
She will be accompanied by the bouzouki, a type of traditional Greek guitar.
Tucson Greek Festival
WHEN: 3-11 p.m. Friday, Nov. 14
WHERE: 43 E. Congress Street, Tucson
COST: $7 general admission, $125 VIP admission, children 5 and under free when accompanied by adult. VIP admission includes access to an exclusive buffet, bar and restrooms, along with up-close concert seating and a wine tasting
INFO: tucsongreekfestival.com
