Sudbury's annual Greek Festival has gone low key for another year as the pandemic continues to force people to be extra cautious.
Steve Lolas, the president of the Sudbury Greek Community said Saturday that the turnout at the Hellenic Centre on Ester Road in Sudbury's South End has been steady and he said he was grateful for the volunteers and supporters because the annual fundraising at the festival has been impacted by the pandemic.
"Well, the fundraising has been very tough. We haven't been able to have a proper fundraiser since December of 2019," said Lolas. He said it's the same story for every charity and cultural group in the city.
The Hellenic Centre, which is part of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, was busy Saturday with a steady crowd of friends, family members and supporters. But everyone was dropping by for the food.
"In other years, we've had music, and dancing, and bands coming up to Sudbury. But now with the COVID-19 we've had to scale it all down," said Lolas. He said the food was much the same as in the past, with amazing selections of dinners and desserts, but it was all take-out only.
Volunteers greeted people at the door, took their food orders and people were invited to have a seat while the food was prepared. Lolas pointed out there was a steady line up at the dessert table where hundreds of sweet pastries were being grabbed up as quickly as they could be displayed.
"We've done better than expected here," said Lolas. "We didn't think that things would turn out as well as they have," he added.
"We appreciate all the people that turn out and help us out every year."
Lolas was almost apologetic because he said in the past this is the one weekend in the year when so many people in Sudbury love to become Greek, if only for a few hours of singing, dancing, celebrating and immersing themselves in the culture.
Lolas said he was hoping that as more Sudburians get vaccinated that sometime late in the fall, things will begin getting back to some sense of normal.
"Next year we hope to get back to a full-scale festival," said Lolas. "And it will be the biggest and best we've ever had."
Len Gillis is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter at Sudbury.com. He covers health care in Northern Ontario.
