St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church will host its ninety-third annual Greek Festival over Labor Day weekend.

“We like to keep the Greek Festival traditional,” Katherine Ellis, the church’s receptionist explained. “The only thing that really changes from year to year is the food and performers.”

This year, there will have import booths where festivalgoers can buy goods such as jewelry, vases, t-shirts and dolls.

Attendees will also be able to try some Greek dishes such as lambshanks, Kota Riganta, Spanakopites and Tiropites.

“We also have an Agora, which is a small Greek market place, where you can buy the items you will need if you want to cook the festival food yourself.”

At the Agora, you will be able to purchase the food in bulk. Church parishioners make all the food that will be sold at the festival.

“Everyday [during the festival] the food crew comes to the church at four in the morning and starts to prepare the food,” Ellis said. “A group of teenage parishioners makes the appetizers!”

St. Louis natives Christo Sarantakis and Pete Dellas will provide Greek Dancing. In addition, Bouzouki Pete’s Orchestra will perform Greek music.

When the adult groups are not performing, you can find the children’s groups performing the different Greek ethnic dances. There are four different age groups, with children ranging from five to 18-year-olds.

“The children are absolutely wonderful! They are so hardworking. They’ve been practicing for three months,” Ellis said.

The dancing troupes from St. Nicholas perform at different St. Louis area festivals. Most recently, they performed at Tower Groves Festival of Nations on Aug. 29.

Tours of the church will be available at 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. During the tour, attendees will learn the history of the church and its surroundings, while also learning more about the Greek Orthodox religion.

“Considering last year’s turnout, we’re expecting somewhere around 60,000 people to visit within the three days the festival runs,” Ellis said.

Because the church is located in the Central West End, it is fairly close to Highway 40.

“We get a lot of people from Illinois, smaller cities around St. Louis and even some people all the way from Kansas City,” Ellis explained.

Admission to the festival is free, and there will be indoor and outdoor seating at the church.

St. Nicholas Church is located on the corner of Forest Park Blvd. and Kingshighway. Free parking will be provided in the BJC parking garage located on Laclede Ave.

For more information on the festival visit http://www.sngoc.org/GreekFest/default.htm