“There’s this great thing called Greek hospitality, and it even comes to Dallas, Texas,” Lindsay Karant, who runs the festival’s marketplace, says.
This year, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, the festival celebrated its 70th anniversary. Started in 1956, it was originally a fundraiser for the church’s ladies’ bazaar, where parishioners baked pastries to raise funds for the Church. Over the decades, it has evolved, briefly becoming a fashion show in the late ’60s and early ’70s before becoming the food-focused festival that brought in close to 18,000 attendees this year.
The festival is run by volunteers, drawing 694 from the church and 803 total.
“This is a family business, to be honest,” says Lindsay’s husband, festival chairman Billy Karant, who has been involved with the festival for 19 years. “All of these parishioners bring their families from their youngest children all the way up to their oldest, the grandpas and grandmas.”