Family, friends make Greek Food Festival in Oakmont possible year after year

Many people deserve recognition when it comes to the Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church’s annual Greek Food Festival in Oakmont.

From the committee organizing the volunteers and tracking funds to people ordering supplies, from the chefs baking and preparing foods months in advance to the young workers setting up chairs and taking orders, kudos to everyone.

When it comes to the pork souvlaki skewers, two names are at the top of the list.

Panagiotis Mikroudis of Wexford and Ray Zeliznik of Bradford Woods are the festival grill masters.

They come in the day before the three-day celebration begins to prepare the marinade. Each take turns ensuring the skewers are seared to perfection and not overcooked.

This year’s festival took place June 24-26 at the church, 12 Washington Ave.

It takes about 45 minutes to cook about 80 pieces of pork on the charcoal grill. About 2,500 skewers are served throughout the festival.

“What makes me the happiest is when someone walks by and says, ‘That’s the best thing here,’” Zeliznik said.

Mikroudis and Zeliznik have volunteered the past 10 years. They worked on gyros and at other stations before pork souvlaki was introduced in 2016.

“It’s the one time a year everybody works hard so that the church can have a successful festival,” Mikroudis said, “even though it might be hot, might be sweaty, there might be some arguments. But at the end of the day, everyone still has a pretty good time. They feel good when we go through the numbers and we did better than last year. (We’re) glad we could help.”

The pair met while working at a former paint business. Zeliznik was a chemist and Mikroudis a product safety official.

“He came into my office because he saw my name was Greek,” Mikroudis said.

They chatted about people they knew and made an instant connection.

“We just realized how small the Greek community is,” Mikroudis said.

Zeliznik, 42, said he and his wife, Ini, were looking for a Greek Orthodox church to call their own and went to several in the Pittsburgh area. They had lived in Lancaster before moving to Allegheny County.

Mikroudis, 35, who was already a parishioner at the Dormition, invited Zeliznik to the Oakmont church.

“This was the first one where my wife felt like it fit,” Zeliznik said. “She loved all the hard work on the church, the people (and) how welcoming everyone was.”

After the paint business went under, the pair once again found themselves as co-workers, this time at Covestro, a high-tech polymers company.

“We share a lot of the same beliefs, ideas at work, and church and life,” Mikroudis said. “We both like to have a good beer. Ray makes a good beer. We both like power tools and some woodworking and are up for a (do-it-yourself) challenge.”

Mikroudis is the godfather of Zeliznik’s second daughter, Phoebe, 6. Zeliznik’s oldest daughter, Kassiani, 8, is being groomed to become a festival volunteer.

Mikroudis and his wife, Kari, have a 2-year-old son, Matthew, and a 6-month-old daughter, Anna.

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— Mike D. (@MikeJdiVittorio) June 27, 2022

Family affair

The festival is full of stories of friends and family doing their part to make each year bigger and better than the last.

Bill Wyrick, 54, and his son, Peter, 19, both of Oakmont, work in the kitchen with Ed Bartosiewicz, 71, of Oakmont and his son, Lucas, 36, of Lawrenceville.

They help with the lamb shanks, pastitso, moussaka and spanakopita, typically from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“We don’t work shifts,” Bill Wyrick said. “We come in first thing in the morning and stay ’til it’s done every day. It’s kind of a labor of love. We all love hanging out with each other. It’s a great time to catch up on what we don’t get to catch up on for a year.”

Wyrick, who started out as a bartender at the festival years ago, said his son got involved in the festival since age 13.

“He was always very responsible here coming down and doing whatever was needed,” Wyrick said. “Good worker, hard worker, and we’re always looking to find some young help to help us in the kitchen.”

Peter Wyrick said he has learned a lot over the years being in the kitchen and enjoys the family time.

“I love being back here every year,” he said. “Now I’m away at college, so it gives us time. Thanks to (my dad), we have this whole process very streamlined. We know exactly what we’re going to be doing every day when we come in here.”

Both of the elder statesmen married into the Greek life and became active in the church.

Ed Bartosiewicz, who also started volunteering at the festival as a bartender, said being with the team and his son helps keep him young. He has no plans on leaving the kitchen.

“I think this is the closest interaction we’ve had in a year,” Ed Bartosiewicz said. “We get to do things together. We get along very well.”

Lucas, an architect, helped cut the pieces of spanakopita and other sides into squares to be served and placed into containers.

“It’s just kind of what you’re supposed to do,” he said about volunteering. “It’s fun, but it’s kind of like the culture. For some reason, it’s more fun to be back here cooking everything, for me at least, than to stand around and watch the dancers and eat outside. It’s more of an experience for us, the volunteering and the working. It’s like we own a restaurant.”

Festival review

This year’s festival featured a larger outdoor seating area and a return to a pre-pandemic layout, with the pastries and honey balls inside and outside the smaller building across from the main hall.

Patrons had to stand in only one line to get gyros and the other main dishes.

Bill Ellis, founding pastor of Riverside Community Church in Oakmont, retired in 2020 after 32 years ministering. He and his family enjoyed the festival.

“Love the tradition, love the food, love just the way it’s part of our community,” he said. “It’s been around for a long time. It’s good that it’s back again. I love the new layout and to be able to go inside and get the food. It’s so easy to go in the line and — boom! — the food’s right there. They have a good system down.”

Festival co-chair Andy Gavrilos said many others echoed Ellis’ comments.

“Generally, the feedback’s been very positive,” Gavrilos said. “Most of our customers were pleased, once again, that they could get in one line and get their dinners and their gyros. There were some that were a little disappointed that they lost a little of the ambiance and the smell of the gyros cooking because we had them on the back side of the property.

“People thought the line moved quickly. We did have some issues Friday night more related to lack of volunteers than a process breakdown. Once we got everybody here on Saturday, things were much smoother. We totally underestimated the pastry need. It’s been overwhelming. The community’s supported us, and they always have.

“We’ve had great crowds two nights in a row beyond our expectations.”

All pastries except for honey balls were sold out as of 3:30 p.m. the final day of the festival.

Curbside pickup expanded from four to eight parking spaces.

Grecian Odyssey Dancers performed each evening under the direction of Mary Doreza. The band Filirakia also provided live entertainment.

Gavrilos commended Mikroudis, Zeliznik and all the volunteers for their service, including Oakmont Mayor Sophia Facaros, who helped sell pastries and clean tables.

“They’ve had some hot days that they’ve had to deal with, but they’re troupers,” he said. “They’re very proud of their work and take a lot of pride in what they’re serving. It’s a small parish for a festival this size. We need a lot of volunteers. It’s nice when families can start out and work with the younger ones, we come up with tasks. It might be filling pop or emptying garbage or taking milk crates.

“As they get older and capable of more, we toughen the tasks as they get older. It’s something a mom and a dad and a couple kids can come down and not just enjoy the atmosphere, but our parishioners can come down as a family and be together and support the church.”

The inaugural festival took place in 1975.

More information about the festival and church activities is available at dormitionpgh.org.

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— Mike D. (@MikeJdiVittorio) June 29, 2022