The Philhellinka Greek Festival returns to Fairfield’s Gillies Street Car Park on Sunday, 15 November, with live music, dancing, traditional wrestling and Greek food.
The festival was officially launched at Nikos Fairfield on Tuesday, 27 October, giving guests a taste of what to expect on the day.
Among those performing at the launch was Johnny Simoglou, the 12-year-old bouzouki player who captivated audiences at Bouzouki Symphony last month when his yiayia got up to dance to his music.
READ MORE: 12-year-old Greek Australian from Melbourne captivates audience with his bouzouki
Johnny performed again at the launch and will return to the festival this year, having also appeared at last year’s event.
Speaking to Neos Kosmos, he said he was excited about performing on 15 November.
Festival founder John Ghionis is also looking forward to welcoming the community back for a second year.
“We did it last year and we loved it,” he said.
Despite the rain that accompanied last year’s festival, Ghionis said the event would go ahead regardless of the weather.
“We’re having our wrestling, our dancers and musicians. We’ve curated an amazing bunch of vendors and we really look forward to seeing you. We’ve got some extra things here for the kids. Can’t wait.”
Singer Apostolis Kasparidis, who appeared on The Voice of Greece last year, also performed at the launch, giving guests a preview of his new single, ΜΕΤΑΝΆΣΤΗΣ (Migrant), due for release on 29 October.
Kasparidis told Neos Kosmos he was excited to perform at the festival and spoke about the personal inspiration behind the song.
“I’m very proud of this song. I wrote it about my grandparents, but it’s a story about all of us Greek Australians,” he said.
“A lot of our grandparents made the journey over on the Patris. The song speaks about the struggles and our story.
“There are so many stories around the world – the diaspora of Greeks.”
For more information on the event, visit our Greek Guide.
