FOR LEE ESOPAKIS, the 50th annual St. Catherine’s Greek Festival this weekend will be as much an extended family reunion as a golden jubilee for one of West Palm Beach’s oldest and most popular events.
In 1975, when St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church hosted the first festival, Esopakis was 5 years old and among the youngest volunteers helping their parents share Greek culture, food and music with the community.
Back then, the festival helped raise money to pay off the church’s mortgage, support programs and, in 1982, build a new hall. But organizers, most of them Greek immigrants like Esopakis’ parents, went all out each year to make sure the festival honored the look, sounds and tastes of their ancestral home as authentically as possible.
Their pioneering passion turned the weekend Greek fest into what many consider a can’t-miss annual event, as popular to regulars as SunFest, the international boat show and the neighboring Lake Worth Beach Street Painting Festival.
“We are all so proud of that,’’ Esopakis, a parishioner who handles the festival’s publicity, said about the 50th anniversary.
Just as their parents and grandparents did, Esopakis and his fellow volunteer parishioners take pride in converting the church grounds at Southern Boulevard and Washington Road into their own Greek isle, right across the bridge from Mar-a-Lago.
“The food, the sounds. It’s like you are in a market in Greece. It really is an experience like that,’’ he said.
Up to 7,000 visitors are expected. Their taste of Greece will include a menu that would make Aristotle proud:
Stuffed grape leaves, moussaka, spanakopita, Greek salad, lamb chops, saganaki, chicken and pork souvlaki, gyro and other authentic Greek cuisine. Among the loyal kitchen and grill volunteers is Esopakis’ childhood friend, Nick Apostolopoulos, owner of the popular Souvlaki Grill at Belvedere Road and Lake Avenue.
Greek wine, specialty drinks such as Ouzo and Metaxa, and Greek beer. “Don’t ask for Coors or Miller Lite. Only Greek beer will be served, Mythos and Fix Hellas,’’ Esopakis said with a grin.
Baklava and other pastries, Greek yogurt and frappe, a Greek iced coffee.
A pop-up grocery offering olive oil, honey, pita bread, feta cheese, and other Greek goodies to take home.
A market offering jewelry, arts and crafts, prints, and specialty boutique items imported from Greece.
To work off all that baklava, pasticcio and ouzo, there will be dancing. Lots of dancing.
Performers will include the “Heart of Greece” troupe and “Athanato Fos,” an award-winning Hellenic Dance Festival team, in colorful costumes performing jigs from various regions of Greece.
And there will be free lessons. Learn the Sirtaki, made famous in the 1964 film “Zorba the Greek.”
“We do dances the way they traditionally were danced in every village,’’ he said.
Music will be performed by the Aegean Duo, featuring the bouzouki, a string instrument.
And if your feet aren’t too sore from dancing, there will be guided tours of St. Catherine Church, built in 1952 with original Byzantine architecture.
The church was less than 20 years old when Esopakis’ parents arrived from Greece. His father came to West Palm to work as a tailor. One of the first things they did upon their arrival was to find a local Greek Orthodox church.
They purposely bought a house within a mile of St. Catherine’s, which became a second home. And when parishioners came up with the idea of hosting a Greek festival, the Esopakises were among the first to volunteer.
“I was 5 years old at the first festival,’’ Lee Esopakis recalled. “When I turned 6, I started dancing the Greek folk dances. I was on stage in my Greek costume. My kids are dancing now.’’
In those pre-Amazon delivery days, he remembers his mother, Ioanna, ordering the festival’s ouzo from Athens. He also remembers his mother working with other women to make Greek pastries.
“She was here making the dough for the loukoumades,’’ he said. “The women would fight with the cooks because they needed space in the kitchen. The women always won out.’’
Esopakis said his generation learned from mentors like his parents and other festival pioneers like Ted and Mary Athanasakes.
“We always celebrate vigorously,’’ Mary Athanasakes told The Palm Beach Post in 1977.
About 50 years later, they still celebrate vigorously. And while Lee Esopakis and his childhood friends have taken the festival baton from their parents and grandparents, they are preparing their own children to one day run it.
“We have had many new families and parishioners over the years but we have many families that have been here for over 50 years, whose children and grandchildren are active today,’’ he said.
“It’s important to keep that tradition alive.’’
50th Annual St. Catherine’s Greek Festival
Friday, Feb. 14 12 Noon to 11 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 15 11 am - 11 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 16 Noon to closing.
Admission is free on Friday from noon to 4 p.m.
A $5.00 per person donation applies at all other times. Accompanied children under 12 are free.
Paid parking available on festival grounds for $10 at the corner of Southern Blvd. and Washington Road.
Free parking with shuttle service is available at St. Juliana Catholic Church, 4500 S. Dixie Hwy. (The shuttle picks up and drops off on St. Juliana’s east side on Olive Avenue.)
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About the author
Joe Capozzi is an award-winning reporter based in Lake Worth Beach. He spent more than 30 years writing for newspapers, mostly at The Palm Beach Post, where he wrote about the opioid scourge, invasive pythons, the birth of the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches and Palm Beach County government. For 15 years, he covered the Miami Marlins baseball team. Joe left The Post in December 2020. View all posts by Joe Capozzi.