{"id":83462,"date":"2024-08-29T10:34:20","date_gmt":"2024-08-29T17:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=83462"},"modified":"2024-08-29T10:35:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-29T17:35:49","slug":"long-beach-greek-festival-hours-menu-what-to-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/long-beach-greek-festival-hours-menu-what-to-expect","title":{"rendered":"What to expect at the Long Beach Greek Festival: souvlaki skewers, baklava and a new vegetarian booth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The longest-running Greek festival<\/a> in California returns to Long Beach this Labor Day weekend with traditional Greek dishes, live music and an expanded market with authentic Greek goods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting at noon on Saturday and running daily through Monday night, the festival will take place at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on East Colorado Street off Pacific Coast Highway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n Link<\/a>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Attendees can park for free at the VA Medical Center adjacent to Cal State Long Beach and take a shuttle to and from the festival. Admission is $5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dishes include gyros, lamb, souvlaki skewers and barbecued chicken along with Greek beers, wines and spirits. Desserts will include baklava, Greek jam tarts called Pasta Flora and Karithopita \u2013 walnut cake spiced with cinnamon and ground cloves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
George\u2019s Greek Cafe employees cook lamb chops to perfection at the Greek Festival in Long Beach Sunday, September 2, 2018. Photo by Kelly Smiley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There are no vendors brought in for the event; volunteers from the church will be handling the food prep and running the concession stands, said event spokesperson Thanasi Papoulias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is all Greek grandmothers working with professional cooks,\u201d Papoulias said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the festival will feature a vegetarian booth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In years past, vegetarian dishes were offered but not all in one central booth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival will also feature a bigger marketplace than last year with authentic products from Greece, including olive oil and chocolate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Greek Festival attendees dancing to the festive Geek music in Long Beach Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018. Photo by Kelly Smiley.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Live music will take place throughout the festival with a band playing traditional Greek music and performances from Greek dance groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attendees are invited to partake in the dancing, with the church\u2019s volunteers available to provide lessons, Papoulias said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jumpers, face painting and games will also be available in the Kid Zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year, roughly 11,000 people attended the festival, which serves as the church\u2019s biggest fundraiser of the year, Papoulias said. Organizers are expecting a slight uptick in guests this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival at 5761 E. Colorado Street will run from noon to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and noon to 9 p.m. on Monday.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fundraiser for the local Greek Orthodox Church draws thousands of people annually for its festive music and scrumptious food booths staffed by volunteers, not outside vendors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23521,"featured_media":76939,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[322],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[32323],"class_list":["post-83462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-long-beach-greek-festival","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83462"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83469,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83462\/revisions\/83469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83462"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=83462"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=83462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}