The popular three-day event will take place from Friday, June 20 through Sunday, June 22, on the front lawn of the church with food, pastries, and Greek traditions. St. John’s Greek Festival has been a mainstay annual event in Blue Point for over 43 years.

THE DESSERTS

Over 20 ladies of the church’s women’s organization, called Philoptochos, have already begun putting hours upon hours across four to five days preparing homemade desserts for sale at the annual St. John’s Greek Festival in Blue Point or to take home.

Olympia Gouvis, the current president of the organization, helps run the kitchen with advising baker and past presidents Toula Dimos and Stavroula Mokkas, who lead about 20 to 30 women in baking large quantities of about a half-dozen family recipes.

The desserts include galaktoboureko, a custard-filled dessert and a crowd favorite, as well as the ever-popular baklava. And, of course, their famous loukoumades, a hot, fresh, fried-dough pastry topped with honey syrup, will be prepared on-site and made to order. This year, they will be making a Dubai Chocolate version of the classic dessert.

“It’s a really big trend,” said Gouvis. “We fry them, drench them in honey, add Nutella and a pistachio butter cream on top, and then a shredded Philo pastry to top it. They are very, very tasty!”

She also said that adding ice cream is always better.

Also new this year, they will be offering soft-serve ice cream as the accompaniment rather than hard-scooped.

The baking process started last week and will continue through this Friday. They start early in the morning and often don’t finish until midnight.

“We also will take part in a few smaller days to finish up,” explained Gouvis.

The women donated all the ingredients, and the rest of the costs were covered by the treasurer, including pounds of flour, lots of honey, syrup, and plenty of walnuts. The sales from the desserts alone raise up to $20K for the church. The festival proceeds, including the money raised from the pastries, help support the “Restoring for the Future” campaign to repair the church.

THE MAIN COURSE

For the main course, there will be gyros, spanakopita, moussaka, pastitsio, Greek salad, oven-roasted lamb and more.

Member of the Parish Council and owner Peter’s on the Green in Bellport and Peter’s Luncheonette in Patchogue, Kostas Mokkas, who helps organize the entrees for the festival, said throughout the weekend they serve about 50 gyro cones at 30 pounds each, about 35 cases of French fries, nearly 1,000 chicken souvlaki skewers, and gallons of tzatziki sauce.

Not to mention the other Greek specialties—all of which, he said, are homemade by the church members from the church’s recipes, including his very own Greek salad dressing recipe, sold at his restaurants.

“We do this all as volunteers,” he noted, explaining the hours put in by the church members. “It’s all homemade food, made with love from the volunteers of our parish trying to show our culture. So, come out, have a great time, enjoy the food, the drinks and the music.”

There will also be iced Greek frappe coffee, beer and wine, including varieties imported from Greece.

DON’T MISS THE FEST

The event will take place on Friday, June 20, from 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday, June 21, from noon to 10 p.m., and Sunday, June 22, from noon to 8 p.m., with free admission on the grounds of St. John’s Greek Orthodox Church, 77 Montauk Highway, Blue Point.

There will also be a mega raffle with the chance to win up to $10,000 in cash, Greek music, church tours, a market place, rides and games.

For more information call 631-363-6450 or email bluepointgreekfest@gmail.com.