OAKLAND — From meaty, melty gyros to honey-sweet loukoumades, the food you’ll get next weekend at the Oakland Greek Festival simply can’t be found at your average, or even above-average, monthly food truck street party.
The food is handmade, each layer of the eggplant on the moussaka placed by a parishioner of the Oakland hills’ Oakland Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension, where the festival is held. And it only happens once a year.
“It’s all homemade food, and it’s been that way from Day One,” said Frosene Phillips, a festival organizer.
The 47th annual Oakland Greek Festival, being held May 17-19, is all about being Greek for the day, even if your dreams of being Greek simply include gobbling up all the delicacies the culture has to offer. But those in the know recognize that the festival is also a great place to experience Greek music, dance, song and the practices of the Greek Orthodox Church.
Stroll around the cathedral grounds and soak up some history with that buttery baklava and go into the taverna for uproarious tunes. This festival is what Phillips calls the “mother of all Greek festivals” in the Bay Area. It’s the largest and the first of the season that welcomes other festivals later in the year like those in Castro Valley, San Jose and San Francisco. And it’s another Oakland event that offers a glimpse into the city’s rich diverse history. The Greek church has been in town for 102 years, and the original cathedral, used before they moved up the hills, can be seen from Interstate 980 on Brush Street.
“I’d call it Greek hospitality on a grand scale. It’s a chance to open your arms, come on in and dance, eat some food, look at the view,” Phillips said. By that she means the grand, sweeping view of Oakland and the Bay Area, not unlike the view from atop Mount Lycabettus in Athens, where young lovers and families stroll to see their city glitter in the evening.
The festival, office manager Cathy Giouzelis said, is the church’s major annual fundraising event that helps put on many of the church’s regular activities. They also collect cans of food for the food bank at the door, giving $1 off admission for each donation. The festival is split up into five regions — Greek Islands, the Peloponnese, Central Greece, Northern Greece and Thessaly — and visitors are encouraged to visit all of them. Each can acquire a passport, and a purchase from each region wins the visitor a bowl of the favorite doughnut-like loukoumades.
It opens at 10 a.m. May 17 with an educational program, and the event officially kicks off with opening ceremonies at 6 p.m. that evening featuring guest Stomper, the Oakland Athletics’ mascot clad in traditional Greek wear. The festival will continue throughout the weekend with the Nea Zoe Dancers, Ascension Dancers, Analypsis Dancers, Greek dance instructions, cooking demonstrations, church tours, liturgical choir concerts, and more.
Go for the calamari, stay for the color. All information, including the church festival’s address, hours, parking and schedule can be found on its website at oaklandgreekfestival.com.
FYI
Where: Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension, 4700 Lincoln Ave. in Oakland, below Highway 13.
When: 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. May 17; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. May 18; and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. May 19
Cost: Adults, $6; children 12 and younger, free; admission free from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 17 and from 5 p.m. till closing May 19
Parking: Free parking with free shuttle at the Mormon temple next door and the nearby Ability Now Bay Area (formerly Cerebral Palsy Center) and Head-Royce School; premium parking near the festival pavilion, $15; disabled parking available; rideshare dropoff at Lincoln Avenue by the outdoor elevator next to the garage
Pets: Service dogs only
Info: oaklandgreekfestival.com, 510-531-3400