“}], “creator”: {“@type”: “Person”, “name”: “Bill Hall”}, “keywords”: [“746c5fbc-c4e2-4274-8099-9d44911c4369”, “Category: Local News”, “Category: News”, “City of Kingston”, “Faith”, “Greece”, “Greek Orthodox Church”, “Kingston”, “Kingston News”, “NLP Category: General”, “NLP Entity Tokens: Kingston”, “Religion”, “thewhig.com”], “potentialAction”: {“@type”: “SearchAction”, “target”: “https://www.thewhig.com/search?search_text={search_term}”, “query-input”: “required name=search_term”}, “publisher”: {“@type”: “NewsMediaOrganization”, “name”: “The Kingston Whig Standard”, “url”: “https://www.thewhig.com”, “logo”: {“@type”: “ImageObject”, “url”: “https://dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital/21.9.1/websites/images/identity/logo-identity-kin.svg”}, “description”: “Exceptional Journalism Powered by Media Innovation. Our Mission: Keeping Canadians in the know with ambitious, trusted and high-quality journalism. Delivering high-value and data-driven marketing solutions to businesses and advertisers. Our Vision: To be the most innovative media company in Canada with thought-provoking journalism that audiences crave and strong platform solutions that help businesses succeed.”, “SameAs”: [“https://twitter.com/whigstandard”, “https://www.facebook.com/KingstonWhigStandard”]}, “isAccessibleForFree”: false, “isPartOf”: {“@type”: [“CreativeWork”, “Product”], “name”: “The Kingston Whig Standard”, “productID”: “thewhig.com:showcase”}, “mentions”: [{“@type”: “CollectionPage”, “name”: “Local News”, “alternateName”: “local-news”, “abstract”: “Sub Category”, “url”: “https://www.thewhig.com/category/news/local-news/”}, {“@type”: “CollectionPage”, “name”: “News”, “alternateName”: “news”, “abstract”: “Main Category”, “url”: “https://www.thewhig.com/category/news/”}], “inLanguage”: “en”, “speakable”: {“@type”: “SpeakableSpecification”, “cssSelector”: [“.article-title”, “.article-subtitle”]}, “isBasedOn”: “https://thewhig.com/news/greek-fest-celebrates-culture-community-and-more-than-a-century-of-greek-heritage-in-kingston”, “thumbnailUrl”: “https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/0825-ki-greekfest02.ki_.jpg?h=120&sig=S83bHNCpbjqgPy8PsaWpPg”, “image”: [{“@type”: “ImageObject”, “url”: “https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/0825-ki-greekfest02.ki_.jpg”, “name”: “Greek dancers”, “height”: 900, “width”: 1200, “description”: “The Levendia-X Dance Troupe performs at Greek Fest 2026 on Johnson Street in Kingston on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Photo by Bill Hall/The Kingston Whig-Standard/Postmedia Network)”, “caption”: “The Levendia-X Dance Troupe performs at Greek Fest 2026 on Johnson Street in Kingston on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026.”, “creditText”: “Bill Hall”}, {“@type”: “ImageObject”, “url”: “https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/0825-ki-greekfest01.ki_.jpg”, “height”: 900, “width”: 1200, “caption”: ” Volunteer organizer Marina Leos takes a brief moment on a busy day to sit next to her variety of homegrown basil at the Greek Orthodox church on Johnson Street during Greek Fest in Kingston on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026.”, “description”: “Volunteer organizer Marina Leos takes a brief moment on a busy day to sit next to her variety of homegrown basil at the Greek Orthodox Church on Johnson Street during Greek Fest in Kingston on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Photo by Bill Hall/The Kingston Whig-Standard/Postmedia Network)”, “name”: null, “creditText”: “Bill Hall”}, {“@type”: “ImageObject”, “url”: “https://smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital/nexus/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/0825-ki-greekfest03.ki_.jpg”, “height”: 900, “width”: 1200, “caption”: ” Antonakos-Boswell, co-founder of the Kingston Greek History Project, shows some of the mapping of the cityu2019s Greek history at Greek Fest 2026 on Johnson Street in Kingston on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026.”, “description”: “Antonakos-Boswell, co-founder of the Kingston Greek History Project, shows some of the mapping of the city’s Greek history at Greek Fest 2026 on Johnson Street in Kingston on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026. (Photo by Bill Hall/The Kingston Whig-Standard/Postmedia Network)”, “name”: null, “creditText”: “Bill Hall”}]}
Advertisement 1
Article content
The smell of souvlaki and freshly baked pastries filled the Greek Orthodox church on Johnson Street on Saturday as hundreds of visitors gathered for Greek Fest 2026, a celebration of food, music, history and community.
Advertisement 2
Article content
The festival started in 2019, and though the COVID-19 pandemic bogged things down for a year, it has grown steadily since.
“In ‘21 we decided to go big,” said volunteer organizer Marina Leos. “We got the street closure, the big tent, and live music outside. Every year since then, we’ve just gotten bigger and better.”
Though it was free admission, organizers collected food and cash donations for Partners in Mission Food Bank, a partnership that Leos said has become a central part of the event’s mission.
Greek Fest organizers reported collecting more than 1,000 pounds of food and $5,000 in cash for the food bank last year.
“This is the fourth year we’ve directed admission donations to Partners in Mission, and we’re really proud of that,” Leos said.
Leos said the event has evolved into more than a fundraiser or cultural festival.
“It feels like our Greek community is welcoming the Kingston community,” she said.
The festival’s roots reflect the broader role historically played by the church within many Greek communities.
Article content
Advertisement 3
Article content
“The church is obviously part of this, but traditionally the church has also been the centre of the Greek community,” Leos said. “It’s really nice because you feel like you have a community here.”
For many visitors, that community extends back generations.
Away from the song and dance of the street, historian Paula Antonakos-Boswell was sharing stories from Kingston’s Greek past through exhibits developed as part of the Kingston Greek History Project, a community initiative that has collected oral histories, photographs and archival materials documenting Greek life in the city.
The project’s archives are preserved through partnerships with Queen’s University Archives and other local heritage organizations.
Antonakos-Boswell, co-founder of the project, said the largest wave of Greek immigration to Kingston arrived following the Second World War and the Greek Civil War, with many families establishing restaurants, businesses and community organizations throughout the city.
Advertisement 4
Article content
“We recorded about 35 oral history interviews and digitally archived them,” she said. “People can listen to those recordings and hear the voices of community members telling their own stories.”
The project has documented early Greek-owned businesses along Princess Street and elsewhere in downtown Kingston, including restaurants, fruit stands, hotels and confectionery shops operated by pioneering families such as the Karis, Zakos, Callas and Sakell families.
Those stories are now being assembled into a digital mapping project tracing more than a century of Greek settlement and entrepreneurship in the city.
“Many people don’t realize how significant Greek-owned businesses were to Kingston’s commercial life,” Antonakos-Boswell said.
Her current work aims to create what she describes as a “living museum,” blending archival records, oral histories and interactive exhibits.
“The goal is not simply to preserve artifacts,” she said. “It’s to create a living space where history, culture and community continue to grow and be shared.”
Leos said events such as Greek Fest help ensure that history remains relevant to younger generations.
“I think events like this help bring the next generation back,” she said. “You can see young people taking pride in their heritage. Even if they’re second or third-generation Canadians, events like this help them celebrate their culture and understand what it means to be Greek.”
Article content
