Over 500 people attended the second annual Greek Fest celebration at the Hellenic Community Centre in Brantford on Saturday, July 20, 2024.
Constantina Peeler, President of the Hellenic Community Centre, said that while the local Greek community has held the annual celebration in honour of Prophet Elias since the community centre and church was opened on July 20, 1981, last year, they decided to open it up to the public.
“Every Greek community or church has a saint by which they form their church. Ours is Prophet Elias and so today is the day that we celebrate him because in Greek culture our saint days, or as we call them ‘name days,’ are so important that they actually supersede birthdays,” she said. “So, not only are we here today to celebrate him, but we’re also honouring the 43rd anniversary of opening our doors here in Brantford. It’s just a big party for us and we’re really excited to see a lot of people here enjoying themselves. We’ve celebrated this day with our own community for years, but last year we decided to open it up to the public and it was just great to be able to welcome everyone in to experience it with us so we’re excited to be doing that again this year.”
Peeler said that while the event isn’t a typical festival that most people might expect, it’s certainly aligned with a traditional Greek festival.
“When people think of a festival, they may think of vendors and carnival rides, but in Greece they’re exactly like this,” she said. “There’s always good food, great music and a lot of dancing, so this is everything I hoped it would be. We’re only a few hours into it and so far it’s been really awesome to see everyone enjoying themselves.”
Throughout the 11-hour event, guests had the opportunity to check out the centre’s large cultural display, commemorate the experience with a picture in front of the Parthenon backdrop, indulge in authentic Greek food from Johnny Greeko’s, and purchase a “Do it right, be Greek for a night” t-shirt.
Attendees also got to experience plenty of entertainment with live music from Toronto-based band, Seizmos, two dance performances from the Levendia-X Hellenic folklore dance group and two performances from the Brantford junior Greek dance group.
“The junior dance group kicked off today’s entertainment with a more traditional program around 2:30 p.m. and then they just did a modern program at 4:00 p.m. and they really brought me to tears,” she said. “They just blew me away because we’ve got kids from three-years-old to thirteen and they just danced their little hearts out because they’re so proud to be Greek and it really shows when they dance, you know?”
Peeler said that one of the reasons she loves the annual event so much is because of how it connects the younger generations with Greek culture.
“I think it’s really important that people know who they are, where they come from and what their heritage is because I think it gives us a real appreciation for other people and it gives us the ability to understand each other more,” she said. “One of the reasons why we opened up Greek Fest was for the survival and the future of our community. It needs to be here for these children so that when they’re in their forties and one of them is the President, they get to see their children dance and be part of our community.”
Overall, Peeler said that while there was still another seven hours to go, she was thrilled with how many people had already come out to celebrate her community’s name day.
“I just want to thank everybody for coming out and supporting us. Thank you to our Greek community and our members, but also to the Greek communities from other cities who have driven so far to be here,” she said. “I also want to really thank the citizens of Brantford that are not of Greek descent, who are out here enjoying our culture and everything we have to offer. There’s nothing better than seeing everyone smiling and really enjoying themselves, I’m so grateful.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
