Wilkes-Barre Greek Food Festival underway

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WILKES-BARRE — Locals can enjoy authentic Mediterranean dishes at the Wilkes-Barre Greek Food Festival, which kicked off Wednesday at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church.

The festival features such iconic Greek dishes as gyros, baklava and dolmadakia.

Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church was established in 1912, but the food festival has its roots in the 1970s and 1980s. Tom Iliadis, president of the church council and festival cook, said that the original food festival hosted by the church went away for a while, but was revived in the mid-2000s.

The return of the food festival was spearheaded by the church council in 2004. The 2004 version of the food festival took place at the Fine Arts Fiesta, but, by 2007, the church was hosting its own event.

According to Iliadis, the Wilkes-Barre Greek Food Festival is the church’s biggest fundraiser of the year. With the money raised, the church is able to support a number of causes, including college scholarships and Orthodox Ministries.

The food festival happens twice per calendar year: Once in the spring, and once in the fall. The spring edition typically takes place right before Mother’s Day, for which the church creates specialized pastry baskets.

Iliadis said that people from a number of backgrounds support the food festival and its unique and affordable offerings, making it more than a niche event for the local Greek community.

“You can get similar food around here, absolutely, but homemade, home-cooked stuff is not easy to come by,” Iliadis said, “and the prices are pretty reasonable.”

That being said, the Greek community of Wilkes-Barre has supported the festival as well. Despite that particular community shrinking over the past few generations, the parishioners of Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church continue to support one another through events like the food festival.

“[Wilkes-Barre’s Greek community] is much smaller than it used to be, but we are a very tight-knit community. We have become like a family,” said Iliadis. “You actually see this in this food festival, because everybody comes and helps out.”

The food festival will continue from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday in Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 32 E. Ross St., across from the Wilkes-Barre Post Office.

Organizers are encouraging customers to order their meals — are only available as take-out — at least two hours in advance.

information about the festival can be found at www.greekfoodwb.org.