FACT SHEET:           ASSUMPTION GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH

                                            GREEK FESTIVAL (PANEGYRI) – 2007

WHAT: 

celebration..This year’s theme –

To enjoy Greek food, pastries, wine and spirits, free live music and   Greek folk dance groups.  Also featuring a Greek coffee house/taverna, gold jewelry, boutique, souvenirs, as well as oil paintings by Pantelis Zografos.  Tours of the internationally acclaimed church, explaining the Byzantine architecture and iconography.

Thousands of your friends and neighbors from the tri-state area will join our party.  Get there early for great food and stay late to kick up your heels!

FEATURES: 

Full dinners:  Greek baked lamb shank, chicken riganato, and fish(Friday only) served with rice pilaf, green beans and mushrooms, Greek salad,  and roll.

Pastitsio: creamy Greek “lasagna," baked macaroni and seasoned beef layers,topped with bechemal sauce.

Moussaka:  baked layers of eggplant and seasoned ground beef, grated cheese, and a rich creamy bechamel sauce.

Dolmades:  grape leaves stuffed with seasoned beef and rice.

Tiropita:  cheese and herbs wrapped in a light filo crust, served warm.

Spanakopita:  cheese, spinach, and herbs wrapped in crispy filo dough.

Greek salad:  salad greens, tomato, Greek olives and feta cheese, served with roll and butter.

Gyro:   pita bread filled with either lamb/beef or chicken slices topped with onions, tomato, lettuce, and a cucumber-cream sauce.

Greek sausage (loukaniko): Greek sausage smothered in sauteed onions and green peppers, and topped with Greek sauce in a hoagie bun.

Greek hot dogs and fries: Smith hot dogs, covered with Greek sauce, served in a bun; French fries, covered with Greek sauce and cheese.

Mezedes:  hors d’oeuvres plate of  feta cheese, Greek olives, dolmades, meatballs, and roll

Saganaki:  healthy slice of Greek headcheese (kaseri) flambe and served with pita bread.

Pastries:

Baklava:  the most famous of all Greek pastries made with walnuts, butter, sugar, spices, and baked in layers of paper-thin filo dough, topped with cinnamon-honey syrup.

Kataifi: shredded pastry rolls filled with buttered walnuts, topped with syrup.

Loukoumades: Greek puffed doughnuts dipped in honey, topped with either cinnamon or powdered sugar and served hot.

Yogurt cake: delicate cake topped with nuts and syrup; chocolate yogurt cake is available also.

Pecan floret:  flaky filo basket with glazed pecan and walnut meats, topped with honey syrup.

Kourambiedes: almond butter cookie, lavishly covered with powdered sugar.

Koulourakia:     flavored butter cookie, good for dunking and complements Greek coffee.

Galatobouriko: custard-filled pastry wrapped in filo dough, covered with light syrup and cinnamon.

Ergolavos: Crescent-shaped, glazed almond cookie

Pasta flora:  fruit-filled cookie.

Tsoureki: Greek sweet bread.

Baklava Sundaes:  4 oz. of ice cream covered with baklava, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, and topped with maraschino cherry

Souvenirs and Arts:

Paintings by Pantelis Zografos – oil paintings of scenic Greece and Greek historical themes.

Penelope’s gold jewelry (14K and 18K) from Greece

Kakias Family Band from Columbus (OH): plays continuous live Greek music and songs each day for your listening and dancing enjoyment. 

Dance groups:  featuring the Cleveland (Ohio) Sts. Constantine and Helen Hellenic Dancers,as well as the St. Haralambos Hellenic Dancers from Canton,Ohio on Friday; The Pittsburgh Grecian Odyssey Dancers on Saturday and Sunday; the Hellenic Dancers of Erie will perform daily.  The dance groups, dressed in authentic Greek costumes, will perform popular folk dances from various areas of the Greek mainland and islands

Continuous church tours daily, featuring the Orthodox Christian faith  and Byzantine iconography

Major raffle:   Grand Prize – Trip for two to Greece, including air and ground arrangements and Greek islands cruise Some conditions apply to this prize). Second Prize –$500 cash; Third Prize – $350; Fourth Prize - $250; Fifth Prize - $100; and Sixth Prize - $50. Drawing at 9 p.m., Sunday, July 10 (need not be present to win).

Special Raffle: First Prize - Romantic stay at a Jacuzzi suite in Courtyard by Marriott (Erie, PA). Second Prize - Greek dinner for 12.