ASTORIA – On the last evening of September, in the bustling neighborhood of Astoria, Greeks, Greek-Americans, Greek-Italian-Americans, and even Greek-Australians came together at Barkada Social Club for a monthly meet-up event designed to foster real connections and community over Greek music and mingling.
Described through the slogan “come solo – leave with parea,” the event, titled ‘Parea – The NYC Greek Social’, was held for its third time since launching just a few months ago, and provided the perfect opportunity for those aged in their 20s to 40s to mix, mingle, and make new friends, while also enjoying delicious drinks and food, as well as Greek music.
With around 20 people in attendance, it was hosted by Stefan Ciancio, founder of Astoria Connect – an online community born in 2023 out of Ciancio’s own desire to make meaningful connections and genuine friendships in his neighborhood. Astoria Connect is recognized as the ‘Number 1 Social Meetup in Astoria, Queens’, which hosts free monthly socials, Greek nights, dinner socials, and singles mixers where 90% of the guests come alone to make friends and new connections.
This event saw Greeks from their 20s to their 40s from not only the U.S., but of across the globe, and with mixed roots, come together and mingle. (Photo: Evelyn Karatzas)
When asked about what inspired Ciancio to launch the Greek social event, he said, “I really liked connecting people through the regular social events, but I wanted to do something more, especially here in Astoria, where there’s a Greek population.”
Noting how the Greek community isn’t as “prominent as it used to be”, the Greek-Italian-American Astoria Connect and Parea founder expressed “I felt like Greeks need a place to get together and connect with each other, as there are not as many options as there used to be – so that was kind of the general idea,” Ciancio said.
Designed to take place roughly once a month at various locations across Astoria, the Astoria local, Ciancio expressed how his overall goal with hosting events like Parea, in addition to his monthly social events (which are open to people of all backgrounds and ethnicities in Astoria and beyond), was to “foster connection and help people make friends.”
“I think now, more than over, events like this are needed for community building,” he noted.
This event started after its founder, Stefan Ciancio, developed a desire to create a place for members of the Greek community to come together and make genuine friendships. (Photo: Evelyn Karatzas)
For those who have never attended one of Ciancio’s social events, he said they can expect to “come in, wear a name tag and know that they’re going to make friends.”
“It’s pretty easy to approach people – whereas if you just go to a bar, you don’t know if everyone’s always receptive to making friends, but here, you know that everyone here came with one purpose,” he expressed.
Speaking to some of the attendees at the event, Dena Spanos – an Astoria local, shared that what brought her to the event was “wanting to feel more of a connection to my culture, and to people in the community who share my culture.”
“Sometimes I feel a little disconnected in general, and I work remotely so, yeah, I saw this event and I came to the first one and it was lovely. I met wonderful people and I wanted to repeat the first time,” Spanos told TNH.
Stefan Ciancio, the founder of Astoria Connect and Parea – The NYC Greek Social events. (Photo: Evelyn Karatzas)
As someone with roots from Chios and Ikaria in Greece and who is passionate about her Greek heritage, Spanos shared what it meant for her to attend events like this and connect with other young Greek-Americans.
“It [attending such events] just feels like a very ‘connecting’ experience and I love meeting new people,” she expressed.
“And people that are coming here aren’t just Greek-Americans. Some of them are actually coming from Greece, coming from Australia, and so it’s really lovely to meet people from all over the world that share this cultural heritage.”
Christian Hoimes, another attendee of the Parea – The NYC Greek Social event, who was attending for the second time, was asked what brought him there. He simply replied, “community,” adding that “Astoria is the best place in the world.”
Chris Felix and Christian Homies, two attendees of the third edition of the Parea – The NYC Greek Social. (Photo: Evelyn Karatzas)
Having grown up in Connecticut before later moving to New York, where he currently lives on the Upper East Side, Hoimes expressed what events like this mean to him as a young Greek-Polish American, with Greek ties to Asia Minor.
“I think that it’s very important that as a country and as a general society, that society remembers their history of wherever they’re from,” Homes told TNH.
“And America is an immigrant society…the foundation of New York was built by the Italians, the Irish, the Greeks, the Polish, the Arabs, the Jews…and they all lived and co-existed in a single location. That’s what made New York…and I think that it’s important that you operate culturally and still have a tie to your own community within that society.”
“This being the Greek community, I think that it’s very important, and it’s awesome that we have such a big community, and one that plans things like this.”
The event took place at Barkada Social Club in Astoria. (Photo: Evelyn Karatzas)
When asked about one of the highlights from attending the last Parea event, Hoimes shared: “I met a lot of awesome friends. I actually even met a distant cousin…his great-great-grandmother is my great-great-grandmother as well.”
As a place connecting young people every month, Astoria Connect continues to throw monthly events to foster new friendships and connections.
To learn more about Parea – The NYC Greek Social, or Astoria Connect and its events, visit https://theastoriaconnect.com/ or @astoriaconnect on Instagram.
