Greektown Chicago ’s popular Taste of Greektown festival returns for its 34th year with the city’s largest celebration of Hellenic cuisine and culture, the weekend after Labor Day on Friday, September 6 through Sunday, September 8, along Halsted Street from Adams to Van Buren.
The neighborhood’s popular Greek restaurants are the stars of the show, including 9 Muses Bar & Grill, Athena Restaurant, Mr. Greek Gyros, Spectrum Bar & Grill and Zeus Restaurant—many of them Greek American family legacies that have been open in Greektown for 25-40 years. Also participating in the festival are Ground Up Coffee, Meli Café and Ilios Estiatorio, a new Greek restaurant coming soon to Greektown that offers a contemporary dining experience celebrating Mediterranean flavors.
The 34th annual Taste of Greektown festival is presented by the Greektown Chamber of Commerce with additional support from Greektown SSA #16. The festival will be open Friday, Sept. 6 from 4-10 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 7 from 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 8 from 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Admission is free to all, with a suggested donation of $7 benefitting the Greektown Chamber of Commerce.
The popular Devanco Foods Gyros Eating Contest returns on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. with participant sign-up located adjacent to the festival mainstage beginning at 3 p.m. that day—for competitors who want to put their love of gyros to the test! Live music and dancing at the Taste of Greektown includes Hellas 2000 on the festival main stage, performing traditional and new Greek music on Friday, Sept. 6 from 5 p.m.–10 p.m. and on Saturday, Sept. 7 and Sunday, Sept. 8 from 1 p.m.–10 p.m. daily. The festival’s second stage features DJ Apostolis on Friday from 5 p.m.–10 p.m. and DJ Niko Adams on Saturday and Sunday from 1 p.m.–10 p.m.
Unique festival shopping and retail vendors include Athenian Candle Co, a four-generation family business that has been open in Greektown for over 100 years. New Greektown business Spavia Day Spa - West Loop will offer chair massages throughout the festival weekend as well as special discounts for Taste of Greektown attendees, with 25% off retail products and 25% off all services for new spa visits within three days of the event.
Taste of Greektown attendees can also experience the neighborhood’s new Little Wise Owls outdoor art exhibit along Halsted Street from Monroe to Van Buren, a series of 28 painted three-dimensional owl sculptures that showcase the creativity of local professional and emerging artists, as well as students from nine Chicagoland Greek language schools. In Greek mythology, a little owl (Athene noctua) often accompanies Athena, the goddess of wisdom. Little Wise Owls is sponsored by Greektown SSA #16 in partnership with the Chicago Greektown Educational Foundation.
(For more information, visit GreektownChicago.org .)
Local Chicago, IL
Most Popular
Comments / 0