More than 20,000 Greek pastries are prepared from scratch, and volunteers from the church spent countless hours preparing recipes handed down over the years.
On a recent morning, the sweet smell of honey hung in the air at the church’s kitchen. Each of the dozen or so volunteers had a specific task and station, and an assembly line of sorts was created to put the finishing touches on finikia cookies.
“You have to soak them so the honey gets absorbed,” said parishioner Rhoda Conley.
The honey soaked cookies were topped off with chopped nuts and laid in individual papers and arranged on trays.
The finikias, and several other types of pastries, including koulourakias – a braided butter cookie topped with sesame seeds, paxemathia — a Greek version of biscotti, and the ever-popular baklava, will be available at the 22nd Annual Greek Festival from Friday, July 7 to Sunday, July 9 at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 186 Bradley St., Saco.
“It’s all handmade with fresh ingredients, made lovingly by the ladies of St. Demtrios,” said parishioner Carol Xanthopoulos, who heads the pastry making effort.
The pastries are always a huge draw, and so are the meals, which include moussaka, which has layers of eggplant ground beef, grated cheese and seasoned sauce; roasted chicken and souvlaki, skewered marinated lamb.
Proceeds from the festival benefit the church, said Conley. The festival is always a popular event, drawing people not only from the church, but from the greater community and beyond.
Church secretary Stephanie Koutroulis said one summer a couple from England motorcycling across the United States came to the festival and asked her advice on what to order for lunch, and on the way out gave her the thumbs-up sign.
In addition to food, the festival features music, dancing, tours of the church and a Greek market.
The festival will run 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Shuttle buses will run from Saco Valley Shopping Center and the Franklin Street from 5 to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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