Thousands gather for Greek food, fun

Shaler resident Nubia Habay spoon-fed her son Blake while she waited for her husband to… Shaler resident Nubia Habay spoon-fed her son Blake while she waited for her husband to return to the table. Blake seemed pleased with strained peas, but his mother had pastitsio, dolmathes and baklava on her mind.

?I saw the sign on the Ninth Street Bridge,? she said. ?I?ve been to Greece recently and I love the food there, so I thought we?d stop by.?

The Habays, along with hundreds of others, decided to spend their Sunday afternoon at the 42nd annual St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral Greek Food Festival.

?This year, we celebrate the patrons who have been coming here for years,? said Father Sarantos Serviou, who has been saying Mass at St. Nicholas for the past 25 years. He knows families that have come every year since the festival began, and he said their devotion and support have meant a lot to the Church.

In addition to providing authentic Greek foods such as moussaka (a sauteed beef and eggplant casserole) and souzoukakia (Greek meatballs), the festival features nightly traditional dance performances and tours of the Cathedral conducted by Serviou.

Because the bishop of Pittsburgh, Metropolitan Maximos, does not favor church-sponsored raffles or bingo, the food festival serves as St. Nicholas? main fundraiser. According to Serviou, the week-long festival draws 20 to 25 thousand people each year and raises as much as $150,000 for the church. Church leaders use the money to sponsor activities like Sunday school, dance classes and the church choir.

Except for the busboys, parishioner volunteers like George Yanulis staff the festival.

?I think they?ve done an excellent job,? said Yanulis, a relatively new member among the mostly older, inner-city parishioners. ?And they seem to be getting more and more people each year.?

Every year, preparation for the festival begins in January, after the Epiphany, when church members purchase only the highest quality of food from local vendors, Serviou said. Parishioners cook the food and store it in a room-sized freezer until two weeks before the event.

Participants completely filled the lower floor of the Cathedral, where the food line occupied the entire right side of the social hall and patrons picked out their favorite Greek foods and pastries. Band equipment covered the floor in the rear of the room but left enough space to accommodate the dancers. The rest of the room was devoted to seating, which was at a premium during the festival.

?The food here is very good, excellent,? Nubia Habay said, still shoveling Gerber into Blake?s mouth. ?I wish they had this more often.?

Serviou said the festival is much more than a fundraiser?it is an opportunity for people to come together in a ?fellowship of warmth and Greek spirit.?

?This is a very large community event, which has become an institution in Pittsburgh,? he said.

The festival continues all this week until Friday, May 9. Lunch is available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and dinner is served from 5 to 9 p.m. until Thursday. On Friday, dinner hours are 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. The festivities officially end at 1 a.m. on Saturday.