Published October 15. 2025 04:01PM
The St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral held its annual Greek Food Fall Festival from Sept. 18–21 at the church at 1607 W. Union Blvd. The event featured traditional Greek dishes, desserts, music and dancing. Guests could dine in or order online for takeout. The event has been held for decades.
Visitors enjoyed authentic Greek foods such as gyros, souvlaki, pastitsio, moussaka and Athenian chicken prepared by volunteers and parishioners. Green beans flavored in sauce, orzo, rice pilaf, spanakopita and Greek fries with salt and oregano were also available. Traditional Greek desserts lined the tables including baklava, finikia, galaktoboureko, kourambiedes and kataifi. A rack of Greek costumes was available for visitors to choose if they wanted to wear authentic traditional Greek clothing while enjoying the festival.
Visitors also enjoyed entertainment by the lively Greek dancing performances. Three levels of Greek dancers performed throughout the four-day festival. Asterakia was the group for the youngest dancers and Meraki was the group for the middle level dancers. However, it was the oldest group of dancers known as Zotikos who had the crowds on their feet. This group encouraged everybody in the audience to join hands with them and the group danced throughout the festival tent in true Greek fashion. Several members of the crowd yelled, “Opa!” and threw money onto the stage while the dancers performed, which is a display of appreciation for the dancers’ skills. The money is used by the youth dancers for costume repairs and anything needed to support their practices. These dance troupes also performed at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church in Wilson Sept. 26-28.
The Greek food festival is held biannually in Bethlehem. If you missed this one, you can look forward to May 2026 for its spring food festival.
Press photo by Lisa DraperZotikos dance troupe performs at the festival. This group encouraged everybody in the audience to join hands with them and the group danced throughout the festival tent in true Greek fashion.
Press photo by Lisa DraperZotikos dance troupe performs at the festival. This group encouraged everybody in the audience to join hands with them and the group danced throughout the festival tent in true Greek fashion.
