BELLEVIEW, FL (352today.com) – It was a rich cultural experience featuring a variety or food, vendors, traditional music and dancing as the 26th Annual St. Mark’s Greek Orthodox Church Festival offered something for everyone on the first of its three-day run.

The event continues today from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The festival also featured church tours and door prizes.

There were so many gastronomical delights: moussaka, dalmodes, kaitifi, baklava, spanokopita, loukoumades, souvlaki, pork, shish kabob, gyros, Greek styled chicken, lamb and more. There were vendors carrying a variety items, jewelry, handbags, ladies’ attire, soaps, luffa sponges, olive oil, olives, pure salt with no preservatives, tea, and chocolate, catering to a number of different tastes.

“It’s been wonderful, a great atmosphere, great people who work here, and the crowd’s been really nice today,” said Nicole Owens, one of the vendors, who came to the Greek Festival from Leesburg. “There’s great unique pieces here. Ours, we do 3-printing and crystals, there’s great vendors here with a lot of unique items.”

And what makes the nation one of vacation dreams, can be found at the festival, the Mediterranean cuisine transports one to Athens, Delphi, Santorini, Crete, Naxos, or as if you’re in an authentic Greek village.

A Greek Flag on the extreme left, speaker, a keyboard, a man behind the keyboard singing, to the right, a man playing a bouzouki and the flag of the United States of America.
Traditional Greek music made the St. Mark’s Greek Orthodox Church Festival an enriching cultural experience. Courtesy: Ben Baugh/352today

“We’ve had a great day today, it’s the first day of our festival,” said Vivian Badami.  “Our church has grown from a small community of retirees and senior citizens, and now we have families with little children, and everybody is pitching in to make this a great successful festival. We have great food, great pastries, we have not only dinners but have things from the grill. We have fulltime entertainment throughout the day Come down and enjoy yourself and have a good meal, relax and enjoy everything. We have a raffle that’s being sold, a $1,000 grand prize, second prize is $500 and the third prize is $250. If you haven’t been, you’ve got to come. Opa!”

There’s also something for the kids, as they can have fun in the children’s activity tent, featuring a bounce house sponsored by the Marion County Children’s Alliance.

Ron Nichols enjoys the people that come, and who buy his product, spanokopita, Greek spinach pie, and the Greek salads.

“The Greek band is wonderful and when the people start dancing, that’s wonderful,” said Nichols. “We have a lot of good vendors, with some nice products to sell. People come dance, play, socialize and buy from the vendors.”

A tent with a table under it, a woman an man standing in front of a column, with people in the background at tables.
Jenny McCaffrey and Ron Nichols are selling Spanokopita and Greek Salads at the St. Mark’s Greek Orthodox Church Festival. Courtesy: Ben Baugh/352today

St. Mark’s Greek Orthodox Church is located at 9926 SE 36th Ave. just north of Belleview High School. For more information you can call (352) 245-0499.