Greek Festival Moves to Roomier Location

A Greek dancer, a taverna stocked with ouzo and more than 35,000 pieces of Middle Eastern pastries will be featured June 8 and 9 at the Ventura County Greek Festival.

The event is being moved this year from Camarillo to Conejo Creek Park North in Thousand Oaks, where organizers are hoping to draw bigger crowds.

Unlike last year, the festival--a fund-raiser for the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Camarillo--will be free.

“We are preparing food for 20,000 people,” said Cynthia Coler, publicity chairwoman for the event. “It’s going to be so much bigger, with more arts and crafts and more entertainment nonstop. And there will be plenty of space to dance.”

Already, St. Demetrios parishioners have begun preparing pastries, from the well-known baklava to the traditional Greek wedding cookie called kourambiethes.

Other food will include stuffed grape leaves, skewered lamb and spinach pies. Greek crafts will also be on sale.

Entertainment will include George Alexiades performing the Greek table dance, a jig that involves holding two tables with place settings totaling 27 pounds in his teeth, and Jerome Dabour dancing with an inverted glass of wine on his head.

The St. Demetrios Youth Dancers will perform traditional Greek dances.

Music will be performed by the Helenic Sounds of Los Angeles.

The festival will run from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. June 8 and from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on June 9.