Greek Orthodox church serving “the best gyros and pastries in town” at upcoming fall festival

POCATELLO — Those who can’t wait until next summer to feast on authentic Greek gyros and pastries will have the opportunity this fall.

The Blessed Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Pocatello is preparing to hold its Greek Gyro and Pastry Fall Fest on November 9.

“Come on down, support a great cause and enjoy the best gyros in town. Opa!” said Father Constantine Zozos. Opa is an expression shouted at Greek festivals that expresses joy.

While the festival is still over two weeks away, some of the members of the Philoptochos Ministry, the parish’s women’s organization, are already hard at work preparing pre-ordered pastries.

The volunteers put their weekends towards preparing the pastries, which get packaged for pre-orders. Longtime members of the ministry have taught the younger ones the steps and recipes overtime.

“They taught them how to do this from generation to generation,” Zozos said.

People who attend the parish’s fall festival will be able to order a variety of greek pastries, the most popular being Baklava, greek gyros and soft drinks. Rather than pay a fee at the door, people will pay for the food that they order.

Instead of serving the food outside, attendees will order their food in the social hall, just next to the chapel at 518 North 5th Avenue. The festival will last from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. that Saturday.

While the parish’s annual summer festival always has a long line of attendees waiting to order, Zozos said that people shouldn’t expect that from this festival. With a much smaller menu, the line moves faster and it draws less of a crowd.

After they order, people can either eat in the social hall or outside in the church courtyard, or they can take their food to go.

The money raised from this festival will go to a number of non-profit organizations, as well as to help fund a planned bookstore in the social hall, containing texts on the Greek Orthodox religion. Zozos said that the parish is seeing an influx of new members who want to be able to more easily aquire these books.

“People are searching for the historic Christian church, and they’re finding through the internet and friends about our parish,” Zozos said.

They plan to keep this bookstore small to start out with, and Zozos hopes they’ll have it open by December.

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