Annual Greek Festival set for Saturday at Greek Orthodox Church in Pocatello

POCATELLO — The annual Greek Festival is set to take place this Saturday at the Greek Orthodox Church on North Fifth Avenue.

Father Constantine Zozos of the Greek Orthodox Church said the festival is the largest one-day ethnic festival in Idaho. It happens every year, and people in the area are always excited to visit.

"It's the best Greek food this side of the Mississippi," he said. "We have 6,000 pieces of pastry all made in our kitchen."

The festival will feature several types of Greek food, such as gyros and roasted lamb. There will even be Greek sausages that are made in Salt Lake City.

"We have some highlights," he said. "We have baklava sundaes. For those we're using homemade ice cream by Scoops N Sliders."

The money that is raised during the Greek Festival will be used to fund the third phase of the restoration of the church building, and some will go to local charities. Zozos said the church building is old enough to be a national historic site.

"The church building itself is reaching 109-years-old," he said. "The social hall was a chapel at the Air Force Base here in Pocatello during World War II."

During the earlier phases of the restoration, the church added a new state of the art kitchen in the social hall that is now being used to cook the food at the festival.

"We're pre-roasting the lamb," Zozos said.

The Greek Festival has been going on for many years. Zozos said it has been happening since before he first came to the Greek Orthodox Church.

"I got here about 2009 or 2010," he said. "It's been going on since then, but it's increased a lot."

Every year, crowds of people from all over the place are drawn to the Greek Festival. The crowd is expected to be large enough for the church to get a fifth cash register to help people move through the lines quicker.

"I'd say we're probably the largest attended event in Pocatello," Zozos said. "There's 6,000 people."

Zozos said there will be volunteers helping to serve the food during the festival. There will be representatives from organizations such as the Pocatello Police Department and Idaho State University.

"There will be people from Idaho Central Credit Union and Idaho Power as well," he said. "All sorts of people. The Pocatello-Chubbuck Chamber of Commerce will also be here."

There will be Greek ethnic dancers from Salt Lake City that will be performing throughout the festival. Zozos said it is always one of the highlights of the event.

"We also have tours of the church," he said.

Zozos said his favorite part of the festival is seeing the happiness on everyone's faces.

"They don't mind standing in line," he said. "This is the best food. People as far as Wyoming come here."

The Greek Festival will take place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. The public is welcome to attend.

"We invite everybody," Zozos said. "It's a real family event. It's a lot of fun."

The Greek Orthodox Church is located at 518 North Fifth Avenue in Pocatello. More information can be found at assumptionpocatello.net .