Another Greek Festival
Last week was the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox church festival at the church located in Elmhurst, Illinois and this weekend is the St. Nectarios Greek festival located in Palatine, Illinois located at 133 S. Roselle Road. This church too was included in the ECCLESIA, Greek Orthodox Churches of the Chicago Metropolis book that was written by myself. Coming back to this always brings back memories for me of when I was living in the suburb before I got married. And it's also odd of where my booth is setup, it's near the point of where the churches facade picture was taken. Odd how things of that nature workout.
We were there yesterday at one o'clock when it was pouring rain. We were safely under the big tent. The other vendors were put up on one side of the tent with a couple of us vendors in the middle. Across from us are tables where as many as a couple hundred people can comfortable eat and socialize. To the left of that is the Taverna where older volunteers are making fried cheese. Every so often there's a tapping of the spatula on the grill and yells of "OPA" (Greek for Yippee).
One of the cooks pours a mixture of alcohol might be whiskey and another liquid to make a large flash of fire. Sometimes the flame gets so tall it touches the tent. Seems the fire gets bigger and bigger as the evening progresses. Little bit further down away from me is the bar where they serve liquids. It's going to be hot today and tomorrow as we simmer under the tent. If you couldn't make last week hopefully you can make it out today or tomorrow. I'll be in the back waiting for you