FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — If you haven’t heard the music or smelled the food from your backyard, the Greek Fest is in town.
The three-day festival is drawing crowds to Fresno, with people coming out to enjoy Greek food, music, dancing and the culture.
But the large turnout is also creating a parking crunch. To find where you can park, click here.
“The food is amazing. It’s very authentic, the family is great,” Christina H. from Fresno said.
Elsa Farfan says she and her family came specifically for the food.
“We love Greek food, so we’re here for the food,” Farfan said.
With large crowds come long lines.
“I don’t think a lot of us have seen the lines that long on a Friday night in a long time,” Jessica Morgan, the Spokesperson for the festival said.
And the crowds are also filling parking spaces throughout the area.
Street parking around the festival was packed Friday night. The situation is more challenging this year because one of the festival’s main parking lots at Radio Park is closed for renovations.
Festival organizers say they knew about the closure months in advance and spent the summer working on alternative plans.
“We’ve known about this for a few months in advance, so we’ve been working really hard over the summer to make our best plans to be able to not have that impact as much as possible at the festival,” an organizer said.
One of those solutions is a free shuttle service.
Organizers have shuttles running from two different locations throughout the day, giving festival-goers another way to get to the event without having to find a parking spot near the festival.
For one longtime festival-goer, it was the first time using the shuttle.
“That was really convenient,” they said.
When asked how long the ride took, the festival-goer said it was quick.
“Super convenient. I recommend it highly.”
The shuttles are free and run every 15 minutes from the two designated locations.
Others decided to avoid the parking situation altogether.
“We’ve always brought our car, but today we decided to Uber,” Farfan said. “Parking, it gets pretty crazy, so we decided to Uber today.”
She says seeing the crowded streets and neighborhoods reinforced that decision.
“We saw the whole parking was way out there, parking the streets, parking the neighborhoods, so I’m glad we did that, honestly.”
Churches in the area have also opened their parking lots to help ease the parking crunch.
Organizers say the effort is about more than just finding a place to park.
“And, you know, Greeks are all about community and coming together and supporting each other,” Morgan said.
Festival-goers say that community atmosphere is part of what keeps them coming back.
“It’s a great place, great atmosphere,” one festival-goer said.
With the festival’s final day coming up tomorrow, organizers are encouraging people to plan ahead, consider carpooling or use the free shuttle service.
