Lines stretch long as community members wait to get a taste of Greek food

POCATELLO — Despite long lines and a full church courtyard year after year, Father Constantine Zozos always “prays” that people will attend the annual greek festival.

The Blessed Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church in Pocatello hosted its yearly Greek Fest on Saturday, which saw thousands of people waiting in line. Once in the courtyard, the hungry crowds had access to an expansive menu of Greek food to purchase.

“I always pray someone’s going to remember to come, and they never fail,” Zozos said. “And as many people come, there’s that many people that wish that they were here.”

While the line for entrance doesn’t stretch out as far from the courtyard as it used to, due to their implementation of a maze-style line on closed streets, it still goes out blocks away from the church courtyard at 518 North 5th Avenue. The church uses a block of East Wyeth Street as a line for entrance, and people are still lined until North 6th Avenue, Zozos said.

“And if you notice, people are bringing their bags, they’re piling it in there,” Zozos said. “People buy more than they can eat.”

Zozos believes that despite the lines, people show up because of the delicious quality of their food. The volunteers prepared between 6,000 to 7,000 pastries for the festival, and they expected to sell all of them before the day was over.

“This food is the best Greek food this side of the Mississippi,” Zozos said.

Pat and Susan McCullough have been attending the festival for “years and years,” and they said what keeps them coming back is the food and the community of the event.

“It’s about the only opportunity in Pocatello to get some culture, and the Greek dancing is fun and everyone’s in a good mood. We love coming here,” Pat said.

Another married couple, Nate and Fayth Mort, were in attendance at Saturday’s festival. While Nate had attended twice before, this was Fayth’s first time.

“It’s been a lot of fun so far. The food is really good, obviously,” Fayth said. “It’s been a really nice environment to be in. Everybody’s really welcoming.”

Zozos continues to feel thankful that the community shows up to partake in greek food and support the church in the process. The funds that the greek festival raises goes towards the upkeep and refurbishment of church facilities. Some of the funds also go towards non-profits in Southeastern Idaho.

Very Reverend Archimandrite Seraphim, who grew up in Pocatello and has been attending the festival since he was a child, believes that the community support has greatly benefited the church.

“The parish is blossoming. It’s so good to see all the people, all the community support,” Seraphim said.

The church is able to use the funds to continue to upgrade their facilities. Most recently, it completed a commercial kitchen, which made it easier and more efficient for volunteers to prepare for the festival.

“We are very cognizant of the fact of the people that come to support us, and they’ve been coming year after year. There are people lined up at 10 o’clock,” Zozos said.

Zozos offered his thanks to community members who came to volunteer for the festival, and the people who came to eat delicious greek food.

“I want to say thank you. It means a lot to our Orthodox community, and we look forward to another year,” Zozos said.