Orders for pastries, meals, and tasty a la carte items from St. Demetrios’ Greek Fest Express begin June 20 and wind down June 30, ahead of pick-up July 8 and 9 at the church. 186 Bradley St., in Saco. Here, two of several St. Fotini Ladies Guild bakers, Angie Genzabella and Vanja Somerville, display trays of kourambithes, buttery Greek cookies dusted in confectioner’s sugar. Tammy Wells Photo
SACO – Longing for kourambithes – those buttery Greek cookies dusted with confectioner’s sugar? Waiting for a taste of marinated, slow roasted chicken, or perhaps a gyro? Slice of baklava?
If that is the case – or if you’ve never had Greek food and are longing to try it – the St. Demetrios “Greek Fest Express” is coming your way soon.
The annual festival at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodix Church in Saco is pre-order this year, as it has been for the last couple of occasions. Pre-orders for an array of tasty Greek pastries, a complete chicken dinner or a la carte options like pastitsio or spanakopita start June 20 and wind down June 30. Pick-up is 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. July 8 and July 9 at the church.
And the St. Fotini Ladies Guild has been baking for the upcoming event, just as they have for many years.
The St. Demetrios Greek Festival has been an integral part of the Saco valley summer landscape for at least 25 years, beginning at the former church location on Adams Street in Biddeford.
“We did one at the ice area, then at Thornton Academy for several years,” said Cindy Carr, when the new St. Demetrios Church was being built on Bradley Street in Saco. The first Greek Festival in the new church building was in 2000.
On a recent day, baking complete, the women’s group began the task of packaging the pastry treats. While it is impossible to say just how many pastries in total were mixed, shaped and baked by this contingent of church ladies, there are many.
As well as kourambithes, they have baked baklava; a Greek honey cake called karithopita; braided butter cookies with sesame seeds called koulourakia; finikia – a walnut spiced cookie dipped in honey and topped with walnuts; a Greek semolina cake with orange syrup called ravini; and paximathia – a Greek version of biscotti with walnuts, sugar and cinnamon.
Dinners will be fully cooked and ready to take home and enjoy.
The complete menu will be posted online at: https://www.stdemetriosof–maine.com for orders beginning June 20. Folks choose from the menu and prepay with a card. A limited number of order forms will be available for those without online access by calling Toni at 934-2159.
As well there will be pastries for sale – baklava, finikia, kouramnbithes and perhaps more, on the pick-up days, the St. Fotini ladies said.
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