This parish is comprised of a mix of Middle Eastern and Greek heritage. I don't know if my Slovak ass was good enough to join in the fun as these people are full of good food, good music and a LOT of dancing! If you didn't eat great food and have a fantastic time, you must be dead.
I'm not usually one for festivals as they are full of people, and honestly, as of late, I'm not so thrilled with people! But we went with our friends, Nick and Sally, and we just had the best time. I couldn't talk by the time I got home but it was all worth it!
To start with, we were celebrating Sally's birthday. What are birthdays without flowers? Here are the beautiful birthday flowers from her daughter, Edna, for Sally's birthday. Happy birthday, Sally!
The first thing we did at the festival was to chow down. Nick, Sally and Ron all ordered the combination plates. The food is so fantastic, I had a hard time clicking pictures before most of the food was gone! Here is what was left of Ron's plate by the time I got my camera ready.
In the front you see two stuffed grape leaves. It was our honest opinion that this year's food beat last year's hands down! You can see a favorite of almost everyone, the kibbe, on the top middle, and a bowl of hummus on the top left. The reason why this plate is so empty? Here is what Ron looked like as I was trying to snap pictures of his dinner!
I caught the poor guy with his mouth full! Which wasn't hard to do! Nick and Sally were also all about it!
We got there Friday night at about 6:00 and there weren't so many people there. We could still find a seat to eat. As the night wore on, the crowd definitely found their way!
One of the highlights to our trip to the festival is what we call the "Wheel of Fortune"! It's similar to the wheel on the TV show with the sections, but on this one, the wheel is standing up and the sections each have three dice faces on them. The wheel is spun:
Here is the playing board and Nick and Sally placing their bets. You put your dollar on a square, numbered on to six, and the wheel is spun. If the slot the wheel lands on contains your number, you win. There are three dice faces on each space, so if you put $1 on a six, and the space is four, six, six, you win two dollars for your one dollar bet, etc.
It's my theory that if you're going to play, you need to play with attitude! I feel you need to slam your money on the board, then the board knows you're serious! As an added bonus, slamming your rock on your money on the board is just that much more good mojo! Ron, Nick, Sally and I are slamming money and rocks with the best of them.
Another couple ended up joining us and playing our reindeer games! We were all slamming money and rocks and yelling out the numbers we wanted to the giant wheel. Eventually, that darn Nick just started slamming better than I was, as his fours were coming up again and again while my sixes stayed hidden! I had to let Nick know how I felt about that!
Good thing he knows I love him!
The next highlight of the festival is the music. I dare you, no I double dog dare you to sit there and not get up and dance or at least chair dance! The music is infectious! All that with only a three piece band.
The guy on the left played some kind of drum like a bongo drum. (Please don't let my musical ignorance keep you away. These guys were awesome!) The guy in the middle was playing something that looked like, but sounded nothing like, a guitar. Here is a picture of this thing that sort of looked like a guitar!
Then, the last guy was on keyboards. These guys were just fabulous! Here we were, all ready for the music to get going after a break.
I am not going to do this affair justice. These people love to dance! I don't care your age or your size, most of the people in the music tent were up at one time or another belly dancing. It's really a beautiful dance, I just wish I would have gone up and tried.
There is one song that they play that is about 20 minutes long. This song goes with this line dance type dance. It started with the three in the video and before you knew it, there were probably 30 people in a line dancing hand in hand! This is the one I wanted to do! It seemed like through most of it, the steps appeared simple. Then, we got to the ad lib parts and most of the people took off and did their own thing, while staying hand in hand! Unfortunately, this video ran until my card filled up. I should have started here and said the heck with the rest!
I just can't tell you what a great time we had. My hands were sore from slamming money and rocks and then clapping to the music. I yelled so much between yelling "SIX!!" and just hooting and hollering with the music!
If you're so inclined, head out I-90 to the West 117th Street exit. Head south on 117th Street, you'll go a total of maybe three miles. 117th Street changed its name to Memphis Street somewhere in there. But, about three miles from I-90, you'll find St. Elias' festival on the right hand side. Just look for all of the fun and listen for the music. I know I'll be back next year!
1 comment:
mmmmm...everything looks so yummy! Don't forget about our local Greek festival coming up this weekend at the Greek church on Tower Boulevard!
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