A festival celebrating Greek culture brought thousands to Springfield, Massachusetts over the weekend.
A September staple of the city for decades, Glendi returned to Springfield’s North End for a three-day run – with plenty of dancing, bouzouki playing and Greek food.
Put on by the Saint George Greek Orthodox Cathedral and held at its Greek Cultural Center, the festival started in 1978 – decades after the parish moved into its historic church by Plainfield and Main Streets.
In the years since, Father Dionysios Koulianos says Glendi’s become a way to connect with the region – and also a good time to share Greek cuisine.
“The purpose of this, it was to introduce to the surrounding people here … it’s about giving… about being philanthropic - and Greeks, we’re known for food! We like to cook! We like to eat good meals!” he told WAMC.
Throughout Sunday, electric meat cutters went to town on slabs of gyro meat, suspended on vertical broilers as the line for gyros stretched a couple dozen customers at one point.
Glendi committee chair Xenophon Beake says the sandwiches and more went especially fast on Friday when the festival began.
“Friday was the best ever – ever!” he said. “I cannot believe the number of people that showed up on Friday, and the lines were long for the for the gyros - and inside, there was not enough room for people to stand, and we’ve run out of some of the food already. Yesterday, at 2:30 in the afternoon, we ran out of some of the best cookies we have - koulourakia and finikia.”
According to Beak, last year’s Glendi alone brought in at least 11,000 attendees. Final attendance numbers have not yet been released, but Sunday saw hundreds crowd around the cultural center’s amphitheater – the site of traditional Greek dancers performing throughout the weekend.
“The dancing is phenomenal – phenomenal. It almost brought me to tears,” said Tara Brais.
Tara and Matt Brais of Longmeadow said they will be back next year, heading home with a couple bags of pastries in tow.
“Some baklava, some powdered sugar cookies and some very sugary filo bow ties - I don't know the Greek name,” Matt Brais said.
“[It’s] amazing,” Tara added.
Nearby – a station devoted to loukoumades worked around the clock. The apparatus features a sort of piston pumping dough through a bowl – plunging small nuggets into a giant vat of frying oil below.
Manning the station was longtime parishioner and organizer, Despina Costa.
“We used to make these with a spoon - we'd spoon the little ball of batter, and we'd have a little burner in between our legs with a pot of hot oil - and we would fry them,” Costa explained. “So, we've graduated.”
Costa says she’s been taking part in the festival since its earliest days. She added that this year’s Glendi is also focused on getting support for significant restoration work needed at the church.
She and other organizers explained that it’s been over a year since a lightning bolt struck St. George’s bell tower. The aftermath sent brownstone debris onto the church’s roof, damaging its choir loft but also a significant support beam dating back to the 1860s – when it was known as Memorial Church and served a Congregational community.
The church reopened after a few months of repairs, but in the process – parishioners discovered the bell tower was in need to extensive restoration, among other work.
Funds from Glendi, as well as an upcoming capital campaign, will go toward the million-dollar price tag the work will entail – helping keep a landmark intact for a community that focuses on giving back, Costa says.
“We have expanded ministries, we have our Sunday school program, a Greek school program - we have a prison ministry program,” she said. “We do prayer shawls, we feed the homeless, and we do this all through the love of God and our faith.”
