While the passing of the Queen’s Birthday weekend meant there wouldn’t be a Darwin GleNTi festival this year, the Greek Community will still have a chance to showcase their culture in the Top End in 2020.
The President of the Greek Orthodox Community of North Australia, Nicholas Poniris, tells The Greek Herald that a cut-down version of the festival will take place on July 25 and it will be a great opportunity for Territorians to enjoy life again.
“It’s not the Darwin GleNTi but it will still be a full-day event showcasing the best of Greek heritage and culture. We will have a lot of local entertainment, food stalls and a dance group,” Mr Poniris says.
“I’ve been excited about this since COVID-19 broke out and we had to cancel the GleNTi for this year. We knew a smaller Greek festival was our contigency plan and I’m looking forward to creating an event that will bring joy to the people of the Northern Territory.”
Mr Poniris adds that while it is exciting, there is still a alot of work to do to ensure the event goes ahead on time.
“Today is the first of many meetings we’ll have in the next seven days because we only have a short window,” he says.
“We have to take into consideration things like social distancing and hygiene. So there’s still a lot left to do but it will be fantastic in the end.”
The Darwin GleNTi usually draws 40,000 visitors to indulge in mountains of souvlaki, octopus and yiros. Even though it was cancelled this year, it is the longest running cultural festival in the Northern Territory.
READ MORE: The Darwin GleNTi’s 32 year history has been showcased in a stunning video timelapse.
