51st Oakmont Greek Food Festival to feature traditional food, music

Some extra food is being made in preparation for the 51st Oakmont Greek Food Festival presented by the Dormition of the Theotokos Greek Orthodox Church at 12 Washington Ave. later this month.

Event co-chair Andy Gavrilos said last year’s festival ended in disappointment for some attendees when a few of the more popular dishes, like pastitso, sold out early on the festival’s last day. He said organizers are making sure it doesn’t happen again.

“We’re going to have a little bit more food this year than we’ve had,” Gavrilos said. “Last year, we ran out of a few items that left a few people disappointed later in the day on Sunday, so we’re making some correction to our quantities to address that.”

Based on sales from past years, Gavrilos said organizers are expecting between 7,000 and 8,000 attendees each day.

The festival will kick off June 27 and run through June 29. It will be open from noon to 11 p.m. each day with food being served until 9 p.m.

“It’s a labor of love,” Gavrilos said. “It’s an opportunity for us to share our Greek culture with the local communities who we are very blessed to have support us as well as they have over the years.”

Gavrilos said he personally is looking forward to the lamb shank. The dish will accompany other fan favorites such as pastitso, chicken alexis, moussaka and the shish kabob. A variety of Greek pastries will be sold at the Riverside Landing building, including the highly popular baklava sundaes.

Aside from the food, the festival will feature live performances and a band that will play traditional Greek music from 5:30 to 11 p.m. each night. There are a few different youth dance groups of various ages performing as well. Gavrilos’ grandchildren will be performing in one of Theotokos’ groups.

The headliners are the Grecian Odyssey Dancers from East Pittsburgh who will perform twice a night.

“They’re always a fan favorite for people to watch,” Gavrilos said.