Greek Summerfest is a summer festival celebrating Greek food, culture and music at St. Nicholas and Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church in Vancouver.
In 2022 Greek Summerfest ran from July 7th to 10th and from July 14th to 17th. The 2023 event will likely happen around the same time, although exact dates and other details are to be confirmed.
Greek Summer Festival in Vancouver
2022’s festival included more of a return to an in-person event. There was live entertainment each night of the festival from July 7th to 10th and 14th to 17th and the option to eat at the site. At the same time there was still the option to order food to go and take it home with you when you picked it up.
Greek Summerfest is one of a number of different Greek festivals in the Lower Mainland. Fairly similar to the July Greek Summerfest is the multi-day Surrey Greek Food Festival which takes place outside a Greek Orthodox Church in Surrey in early June. Greek Day on Broadway, meanwhile, is a massive one-day street party that takes place in late June on West Broadway in Kitsilano.
The Greek Day on Broadway Kitsilano event is definitely the biggest and most popular of the three events. The other two are less crowded, a bit more relaxing and mostly under covered shelters (which makes them good places to be if it rains). The food and entertainers at all three events are pretty similar, and each event is interesting in its own way.
When and Where
The festival is held each year at the St. Nicholas and Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church at 4541 Boundary Road in Vancouver. In years when the regular non-drive-through event happens, it’s a nice venue and, if it’s warm out and you use your imagination, you can pretend you’re somewhere at a small festival in Greece!
Last year the event took place on the first two Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in July. As of early spring in 2023, details about this year’s event are to be determined.
If you’re ordering your food to go you can still go to the same church to pick up your orders. The festival usually runs from noon until 11:00 pm on each day that it’s open.
Greek Summerfest Activities
Greek Summerfest is essentially a Greek food festival with live entertainment. It’s a free event where you pay for your lamb dinner, souvlaki or other food and then watch dancing, musicians and other entertainment while you enjoy your meal.
Entertainment at Greek Summerfest ranges from community children’s groups to local Greek dance troupes to professional musicians. In addition to Greek performers, there are also groups from other ethnic organizations most years, including Latin American and other European nationalities.
Also at the festival are a small number of vendor stalls, often including one or two selling fresh fruit.
stages.
Entertainment Schedule
For an idea of what to expect this year, the entertainment schedule for Greek Summerfest in 2022 is listed below.
(Note: Times and other performance details were subject to change.)
Thursday, July 7th, 2022
- 6:00 pm – Roma Gry
- 6:30 pm – Tharros Greek Dance Academy
- 7:30 pm – WOLFEELS
- 9:30 pm – Music by Alpha Video
Friday, July 8th, 2022
- 5:00 pm – Omogenia
- 6:15 pm – Heart and Soul
- 6:30 pm – Steve Elliot (Elvis Presley Impersonator)
- 8:00 pm – Jasmine Barucha
- 10:00 pm – Music by Alpha Video
Saturday, July 9th, 2022
- 12:00 pm – Omogenia
- 1:00 pm – Alex and Friends Competition
- 1:30 pm – Madeira Folclore
- 2:00 pm – Lorita Leung Dance Academy
- 2:45 pm – Burnaby Scottish Country Dance Club
- 4:00 pm – ASI SOMOS Venezuelan Folk
- 5:30 pm – Raqs Bahiya
- 6:00 pm – Vuk Karadzic Serbian Folk Dance
- 6:30 pm – Zefyros Hellenic Dance Society
- 7:00 pm – Cretans
- 8:00 pm – Tianna
Sunday, July 10th, 2022
- 12:00 pm – Omogenia
- 1:00 pm – Alex and Friends Competition
- 2:00 pm – Sound Machine (Cover Band)
- 3:30 pm – Cretans
- 4:30 pm – MUSIKI PAREA (Live Greek Band)
- 5:30 pm – Galleni & Ashley
- 6:00 pm – Zefyros Hellenic Dance Society
- 6:30 pm – Sudnya Dance Academy
- 7:00 pm – Burnaby Scottish Country Dance Club
- 7:45 pm – Heart and Soul
- 8:00 pm – Live Bouzouki with Yanni Sahamis
- 9:30 pm – Live Bouzouki with Yanni Sahamis
Thursday, July 14th, 2022
- 6:00 pm – Latin America
- 7:30 pm – Jim Byrne Blues
- 9:30 pm – Music by Alpha Video
Friday, July 15th, 2022
- 5:00 pm – Omogenia
- 6:30 pm – Kitka Bulgarian
- 7:00 pm – Slovenian Folklore Dance Troupe
- 8:00 pm – Johnny and the Walkers (Cover Band)
- 10:00 pm – Music by Alpha Video
Saturday, July 16th, 2022
- 12:00 pm – Despina Gkioulis
- 12:30 pm – Vancouver Dance Tap Society
- 1:00 pm – Jessica Dancing School
- 1:45 pm – Yablochko Russian Community Centre
- 2:45 pm – The Unified (Cover Band)
- 4:15 pm – Yablochko Russian Community Centre
- 4:45 pm – Mexico Vivo
- 5:30 pm – Anemos
- 6:00 pm – GRANDINA Serbian Dancers
- 6:30 pm – Zefyros Hellenic Dance Society
- 7:00 pm – Cretans
- 8:00 pm – Live Bouzouki with Yanni Sahamis
- 9:30 pm – Live Bouzouki with Yanni Sahamis
Sunday, July 17th, 2022
- 12:00 pm – Spirit of the Pacific Cultural Society
- 12:30 pm – Vancouver Dance Tap Society
- 1:00 pm – Jessica Dancing School
- 2:00 pm – Cretans
- 3:00 pm – Galleni & Ashley
- 3:30 pm – MUSIKI PAREA (Live Greek Band)
- 4:30 pm – Despina Gkioulis
- 5:00 pm – The Spirit of the South Seas Polynesian Dancers
- 6:00 pm – Zefyros Hellenic Dance Society
- 6:30 pm – Anemos
- 7:00 pm – Roma Gry
- 7:45 pm – Tianna
- 9:30 pm – Raffle Draw
- 9:45 pm – Tianna
Greek Food Menu
The 2022 menu had full dinner platters as its entrees, with each dish accompanied by salad, rice, tzatsiki and bread. The different entrees were BBQ lamb ($27), chicken and pork souvlaki (both $23) and spanakopita ($21).
Appetizers included Greek fries ($8.50), spanakopita-spinach pie ($8.50) and hummus with pita bread ($7.50). For dessert there were loukoumades (a fried dough) dipped in honey with sesame seeds and cinnamon ($8).
There were also some grill items, with the smallest being chicken and pork souvlaki on its own rather than with all the side dishes in the entrees ($7.50). You could also buy large amounts of lamb on a spit, from half a kilo ($30.50), to a full kilo ($48.50), to an entire lamb ($315)! Wine, beer, ouzo, soft drinks and coffee were also available.
Tips and Advice
Below is some extra information and advice to help you make the most of your Greek Summerfest experience.
TIP #1: While you’re at the festival, pop inside the church for a look around. It’s small, but ornate and open to the public.
TIP #2: The festival is pretty quiet between meal times, and busiest shortly after noon on weekends and especially in the evenings. It can be pretty quiet on weekdays in the afternoon.
TIP #3: If you can, go on the weekend. The place is usually liveliest and has the most entertainment on Friday evenings and Saturdays and Sundays.
TIP #4: Some performances are for as short as 15 minutes while others are for up to an hour. When there isn’t a live performance there is music by Alpha Video and dancing is encouraged (although sometimes it might only be one or two people).
Other Information
For more information about the event see the Greek Summerfest website.
For details about other events in Metro Vancouver throughout the year, see the Festivals & Events Calendar.
In case you were interested and wanted to mark your calendar, other Lower Mainland Greek events that take place earlier in the year include the following:
- Surrey Greek Food Festival (which takes place in Surrey in early to mid-June).
- Greek Day on Broadway (which takes place in Vancouver late June).
