Feast at the Greek Festival at Garvies Point in Glen Cove

Anne Alexandrou, of Cold Spring Harbor, is having a very busy week. She and her husband, Lazarus, run the popular loukoumades booth as part of the Greek Festival at Garvies Point, which comes to Glen Cove June 11-14.

“They are like fried doughnut holes, about the size of a golf ball,” she says. “Making the dough is very labor intensive and we do it fresh every day. It comes from our own secret family recipe.”

Over the course of the festival, Alexandrou’s booth will produce 18,000 loukoumades, which are dressed in a honey-based syrup and topped with powdered sugar, cinnamon or both. This is just one of the many Greek specialties made at the festival, which serves as a fundraiser for the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Resurrection in Brookville. The church is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

“Greeks love feeding people because food is so much a part of our culture,” The Rev. Panteleimon Papadopoulos says.

FOOD TO FEAST ON

Don’t expect your typical festival fare like hot dogs, cheeseburgers and fried Oreos. The menu features all Greek delicacies that will leave you shouting, “Opa!”

Try pastitsio, known as Greek lasagna, featuring bucatini pasta layered with red sauce containing ground beef as well as a velvety bechamel topping. Moussaka is a similar construction, substituting pasta for layers of eggplant and potato. Don’t forget to grab some spanakopita stuffed with a spinach and feta cheese filling wrapped in filo dough (there’s also a feta cheese-only version, called tiropita). Fresh Greek salad, beef/lamb gyros as well as the pork/chicken souvlaki are also not to be missed.

“We focus on the one magical ingredient in our food, which is excitement,” says food booth volunteer Greg Tsonis, of Woodbury. “As Greeks we are in love with our country’s cuisine and we get very excited when we can share it with other people.”

Head over to the beer and wine tent where four brews will be on tap (Stella Artois, Michelob Ultra, Shock Top and Blue Point Summer Ale) and Greek wines like Moschofilero white and Nemea red.

“The beer would pair nicely with the gyros or souvlaki,” says lifelong parishioner and co-chair Peter Pantazakos, who has run the booth for 15 years. “Either wine, red or white, goes well with the delicious pastitsio or moussaka.”

SWEET TREATS

Save room for dessert because the Philoptochos Cafe offers pastries and cookies that are unique to Greece.

Among the most popular items are the baklava — layers of filo dough stuffed with a walnut cinnamon sugar filling covered in simple syrup — and galaktoboureko, consisting of filo dough and custard.

The ladies of Holy Resurrection hand make their karidopita (a Greek walnut cake), ravani (a light Greek sponge cake) and koulourakia (a braided Greek butter cookie).

“We gather together to bake for two days before the festival,” says Sofia Zachariadis, of Glen Head, who has worked the booth for 15 years.

No dessert is worth having without some Greek coffee to go with it. See Bessie Ktistakis, of Glen Cove, who can whip up a hot Cafe Elliniko, perfect for dipping koulourakia or a frappé, an iced espresso that gets blended.

“It’s creamier than a regular iced coffee,” Ktistakis says. “We use a hand mixer to create the kaimaki, which is the special froth on top.”

LIVE MUSIC AND DANCING

Not only is the food authentic, but so is the entertainment.

“We don’t just feed you, we put on a show,” co-chair Ellen Pantazakos says. “Dancing and music really add to the atmosphere. We love seeing non-Greek people step up and learn our traditional dances.”

Asteri Entertainment, a seven-piece band from Queens, plays modern and traditional songs from Greece.

“We perform lively dances like Tsamiko and Zeibekiko, which get everybody going,” says bandleader Spiro Papavlasopoulos, who plays the bouzouki, a pear-shaped Greek guitar. “But we also include music from current Greek artists like Nikos Vertis and Konstantinos Argiros.”

Friday through Sunday nights the Anemos Greek Dance Group from Brookville puts on performances of classic Greek dances by middle school students, high school students and adults.

Come see the Baidouska from Eastern Thrace set to bagpipe music; the shoulder hold dance Patima from Lemnos with violin; or catch high schoolers as they perform the Maleviziotis from the island of Crete.

“This is a very upbeat dance that the crowd loves,” says dance instructor Ioanna Bletsas, of Island Park. “You hold hands and move in a circle formation. Someone comes out and does little kicks in the middle as the circle continues.”

RING TOSS, RAFFLE & RIDES

One of the signature elements at the Greek Festival is the ring toss booth. Contestants buy rings (eight for $5, 20 for $10, 50 for $20) to try and win a bottle of wine (kids can play but an adult must be present to redeem any bottles).

“You need to toss the ring over a bottle of wine in order to win it,” says booth operator James Montesantos, of Manhasset. “The super prize is the bottle of Ouzo [Greek liqueur] at the back of the table.”

For $100, a raffle ticket can be purchased for a chance to win 29 different prizes (Apple AirPods, a Nintendo Switch 2 console, various gift cards) including the grand prize: the choice of a 2026 Nissan Kicks SUV or $25,000.

“We take over the stage on Sunday night after 8 p.m. and there’s a huge raffle drum where all the tickets are pulled from,” says co-chair Bobby Tsirakidis, of Glen Head. “Everybody is gathered all around waiting to hear the names being pulled. The drawing is also live-streamed.”

A vendor market offering costume jewelry, Greek honey and Greek olive oil plus an entire carnival consisting of more than 15 rides and midway games completes the festival.

It’s important to note that attendees cannot park at Garvies Point. There are two parking garages in Glen Cove, one on Pulaski Street and one on Brewster Street, where shuttle buses run back and forth to the festival site on a continuous loop.

David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday’s exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.