The scent of tender souvlakia and the sound of Greek music floated through the air at Carss Bush Park in Sydney on Sunday as the Greek Summer Festival by St Basil’s NSW/ ACT returned with a bang.
Over 40,000 people visited the festival from 10am to 7pm, including a number of dignitaries, prominent VIP guests and members of the local Greek community.
They are: His Eminence Archbishop Makarios of Australia; the Consul General of Greece in Sydney, Christos Karras; the High Commissioner of the Republic of Cyprus in Australia, Martha Mavrommatis; the NSW Minister for Multiculturalism, Mark Coure MP; the NSW Minister for Small Business and Fair Trading, Eleni Petinos MP; Member for Rockdale, Steve Kamper MP; Peter Poulos MLC; Courtney Houssos MLC; the Mayor of Georges River City Council, Nick Katris; members of the St Basil’s NSW/ ACT Board such as the Chair James Jordan, the Director Kos Dimitriou, and the CEO Spiro Stavis; the CEO of Bank of Sydney, Miltos Michaelas; and the Executive Director of Business Sydney, Paul Nicolaou; among many others.
On the day, the general public were seated in front of the largest Greek flag in Australia as they listened to a number of speeches by Archbishop Makarios, Ms Mavrommatis, Mr Karras, Mr Coure, Ms Petinos and Georges River Council Mayor Katris.
In his speech, Archbishop Makarios welcomed everyone to the festival and thanked them for attending and supporting the “tireless work and care” of St Basil’s NSW/ ACT.
“It may seem strange to be celebrating a summer festival in chilly June but this immediately transports our minds to our homeland where the temperatures are scorching, the sun is shining brightly,” the Archbishop said.
“All these events are being held primarily because we want to give all of you the ability to communicate with each other and to show the love and unity between us.”
Later, Mr Coure took to the stage and praised the festival organisers for putting on a fantastic event.
“This is a wonderful occasion for families to enjoy the best of Greek dance, music, arts and food and it’s great to see so many from so many generations here taking pride in your culture and your heritage,” Mr Coure said.
Last to the stage was Georges River Mayor Katris who said the festival gives people “an opportunity to celebrate Greek culture but more importantly, to share it with our wider community.”
As these official speeches wound up, the festival’s planned cultural, sporting and children’s activities really ramped up.
Thousands of people gathered around the largest outdoor screen in Sydney to watch the live broadcast of George Kambosos Jr’s title match against Devin Haney. Others stood around watching a number of Greek dancing performances by the Hellenic Lyceum Dance Group, the Aristoteleion Dance Group Academy, the Paroula Dance Group, the Cyprus Community Dance Group, the Sophia Dance Group, the Kalymnian Dance Group and the Sydney Sizmos Dance Group.
People also enjoyed listening and dancing to music by IHO Nyx and Greek singer, Stelios Dionysiou, while some browsed a Greek style marketplace with 55 product, information and food stalls spread across the waterfront park.
One stall holder, Kyriakos Panayi from Christopher’s Cake Shop, told The Greek Herald on the day that the festival was fantastic and a great chance to connect with customers.
“Bring on more of these events! They’re fantastic, especially based around the Greek community, the Greek Orthodox community, it’s very important for just society in general and for us as Greeks,” Mr Panayi said.
Young mum, Jenna Spyros, brought her almost one-year-old daughter to “her first ever Greek festival” and said she had a really “fun day.”
Elsewhere, The Greek Herald spotted a young girl with her face painted and blowing bubbles from a small contraption in her hands. We spoke with Csilla, who was with the girl, and found out she was meeting friends at the festival who weren’t only Greek – a true case of multiculturalism.
“I’m Hungarian and we have Scottish and Cambodian here, all backgrounds. We came here because we love the Greek people and the culture and we’ve come to get some beautiful food and just to enjoy being part of this multicultural Sydney,” Csilla said.
Turns out the young girl was proof that the Greek Summer Festival really was an event for all!
*All photos copyright The Greek Herald / Andriana Simos.
