Greek music and screams of “Opa!” could be heard blocks away as the open-air Greek Food Festival raged on. Screams of joy and relief, no doubt, as the festival ended a two-year cultural drought for the Birmingham community. The Birmingham Greek Food Festival returned this year after having to cancel their festival in 2020 due to COVID-19.
“We are so happy to be back,” said Elaine Lyda, publicity director for the Greek Food Festival.
This year was the 48th Greek Food Festival. It was founded in 1972 and has been held every year since then except for 2020. This year’s festival was packed, but many efforts were taken to account for the pandemic in order to maintain safety.
“Now everything we have is open-air, so people can eat out on the streets and outside,”
Lyda said, describing how the festival shifted from being primarily inside to now being solely outside.
Rows of guests in Biergarten-style seating sat under a massive tent, and dancers dressed in traditional Greek costumes on a stage performed Greek line dances in front of a happy crowd registering never-ending yells of “Opa!”. As cars drove down 3rd Avenue South, they were met with these dancers and the cheering crowd. Smells of pastitsio and baklava disseminated throughout the surrounding area, attracting more and more people to come and see what all the fuss was about. The festival’s positive energy was irresistible.
What resulted as a precaution for the pandemic, turned the festival into an open-air event out on the streets of Birmingham for the first time in its history.
“Everybody is celebrating just to be among each other,” Lyda said. “They’re all eating and drinking and listening to all the Greek music and dancing — it’s just a beautiful way to celebrate life.”
Lyda’s words describe the essence of this year’s festival perfectly. The mutual love for life that spread under the outdoor tent of the festival was nothing short of beautiful. People were happy to be back together again. Mix that with some dancing and authentic Greek wine, and for a few nights in Birmingham, Hellenic culture spread like a Macedonian army.
“Every year, this is all about giving back,” Lyda said. “We give to our church ministries along with local and national charities. Over 48 years, we’ve donated over $3 million.”
Just a month prior, the Middle Eastern Food Festival also returned from a one-year hiatus. It served over 8,000 people and was equally as enlivening.
“Like everywhere, people are ready to do stuff. Birmingham is a very multi-cultural city and between the Greeks, our middle eastern church, the Lebanese church, there’s a lot of cultural festivals that I think people look forward to every year,” said Jeremy Ritchey, chairman of the 39th Middle Eastern Food Festival, which occurred Sep. 23-25. It too, like the Greek Festival, was successful despite the lingering distress of the Pandemic.
Attendees of both festivals are happy to see the community together again.
“It was really cool to see the community healing, in a sense,” said UAB Sophomore Webb Baker, who attended the Middle Eastern Food Festival.
These festivals combined typically serve over 40,000, according to festival officials. They’re a big deal and mean a lot to the community as a whole. The proceeds for both the festivals go toward charities and local parishes, and a full list of all the charities the Greek Food Festival has given to can be found on their website.
