SALT LAKE CITY — The loukoumades are enticing, deep-fried balls of dough, rolled in honey. It's just one of the many reasons why the crowds pour into the Greek Festival on Salt Lake City's west side — the 49th annual event held this past weekend. The festival wrapped up its 3-day run for this year.
The volunteers spend countless hours preparing to serve up the favorite foods because of what this means to this community.
"It’s a way to bring our own community together, but other communities, too," said Chris Coombs, a parish council member for the Greek Orthodox Church in Salt Lake City.
On Sunday, he took FOX 13 News on a tour of the Hellenic museum that sits underneath the oldest and longest-running cultural event in Utah.
"So this wall tells the story of this community and the Hellenic museum as a whole," Coombs said. "It’s really dedicated to the Greek community, and especially the early immigrants who came here to mine and work the railroads and engage of all sorts of other labor."
"So these are cousins," he said as he pointed across the mural, "these are grandparents, these are fathers, mothers, and these are my great grandparents, actually. So that’s William Mamales and Asemo Karides."
It's part of the legacy of the Greek community here in the Rocky Mountain West.
"The anchor to the community is the church," Coombs said.
The Greek Orthodox Church on 300 West and 300 South just celebrated a century here, and the festival has been going on in one form or another nearly as long.
"We’ve been doing this since 1976 in its current form. It actually goes back to 1935, but it looked a little different," Coombs said.
Community members poured into the festival on Sunday to find all their favorite items. Andrea Lendaris said she comes from California every year for this event.
"They enjoy what we’ve enjoyed for so many years," she said.
Lendaris is Greek and proud of her ancestry, and she said she is happy to see what she loves shared with everyone who comes. She described some of her favorite items, which she had purchased several boxes of: "Melomakarona is here, which is a cookie that’s made from flour and everything, but then rolled in honey and nuts. And then a galaktoboureko, which is farina between phyllo, and then almond cookies, which are amazing."
"It’s all volunteer-driven, so it’s a big lift from the community," Coombs added as he showed the kitchen next to the church, where volunteers were plating up all kinds of foods and desserts.
Outside under the tent, more volunteers were working beside the hot grills as they cooked up chicken and pita for traditional gyros.
"It brings the whole community together to experience our culture, and it’s just a family-oriented thing," Jeff Chipian said.
For Chipian's family, this festival and the loukamedes they make are the continuation of a long-running family tradition.
"Three generations. My papou — or grandfather — came up with the recipe a long, long time ago and found all the equipment, and then it came down to my da,d and now it’s passed down to me and my brother, so we come and help out anytime we can," he said.
Chipian said he really enjoys seeing a love of this festival passed down through the generations.
"We get to see our nieces and nephews dance up there now, like we used to be in the dance group. My dad was in the first one," he said.
Organizers say they hosted around 10,000 to 15,000 people a day, with the proceeds going toward the church and its charitable programs.
