'OPA!' Austin's 77th annual Mediterranean Festival begins

October 16, 1:25 AMAustin Church Activism ExaminerJacob Harrison

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The scent of spiced sauces and meats filled the kitchen at St. Elias Orthodox Church downtown Wednesday, as volunteer cooks tested the foods that will be offered at this year's outdoor Mediterranean Festival on 11th and Trinity.

A grand local tradition now in its 77th year, the 'Med Fest' is the city's longest-running food festival and one of our most popular, named among the top 10 Best Food Festivals in Austin by the Austin Chronicle.

It all begins again tonight, 6 p.m. to midnight, with gyros, baklava, rolled grape leaves and shish kabob on the menu along with a host of other authentic dishes offered by the ethnically-diverse, Pan-Orthodox church.

St. Elias member volunteers are of Lebanese, Greek, Slavic, Russian, Ethiopian, Polish, Palestinian, Eritrean and Romanian ancestries, and bring to the festival the food culture that was so central to the church's founding.

    volunteers taste test a Romanian hummus,"Fasole Batuta"  

In fact, it could be said that St. Elias Church was built on great food.

During the Great Depression in the early 30s, Lebanese and Syrian immigrants in Austin built the church stone by stone with money they earned selling ethnic foods in the downtown area. The Mediterranean Festival celebrates this heritage each year with the cuisine, music and dance of the Eastern Orthodox cultures.

Along with 15 different food booths and a host of Mediterranean regional wines, beers and spirits, the festival also offers a shopping bazaar, a Kid's Oasis with games and activities, live music and, of course, dancing (demonstrations included).

"If you want to be sure to have a good time, you have to dance," said festival chairman Gene Attal. "A lot of it is Greek line dancing, so you don't have to know what you're doing, you just get up there and join in. It's a lot of fun and there's always a lot of group participation."

   St. Elias Orthodox Church                                -JH

Music will be provided by Middle Eastern DJ Chris Ferris, while folk performers Stavros and Maria will play live Greek dance music on guitar, bass, keys and the Bouzouki, an eight-stringed instrument of the lute family whose precursor was the ancient Greek Pandourion, the first known fretted instrument.

The St. Elias Mediterranean Festival runs Friday and Saturday night from 6 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are only $5 at the gate. Advance tickets can be purchased at any Twin Liquors, a local sponsor whose event calendar encourages Austinites to "eat, drink and dance the night away."