Greek Summerfest in Vancouver

Greek Summerfest is a summer festival celebrating Greek food, culture and music at St. Nicholas and Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church in Vancouver.

In 2023 Greek Summerfest ran from July 6th to 9th and from July 13th to 16th. Exact dates for the festival in 2024 are to be confirmed.

To learn about everything happening in Vancouver at around the same time, see our July Calendar of Events. To learn more about Greek Summerfest, continue reading.

This article contains the following information about Greek Summerfest:

Greek Summer Festival in Vancouver

This past year’s festival included live entertainment each night of the event 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.

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

This long-running festival is held each year at the St. Nicholas and Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church at 4541 Boundary Road in Vancouver. 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!

In 2023 the event took place on the first two Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays of July. It ran from July 6th to 9th and then from July 13th to 16th.

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 11:00 am until at least 10:00 pm on each day that it’s open.

Greek Orthodox Church Interior — St. Nicholas and Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church

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 most years are a small number of vendor stalls, often including one or two selling fresh fruit.

Entertainment Schedule

The entertainment schedule for Greek Summerfest in 2023 is listed below.

(Note: Times and other performance details were subject to change.)

Thursday, July 6th, 2023

5:30 pm – Burnaby Scottish Dancers
6:00 pm – Heart and Sole (Dance)
6:30 pm – Kynthia (Music)
7:30 pm – Jim Byrnes Blues (Music)
9:15 pm – Alpha Video (DJ)

Friday, July 7th, 2023

5:00 pm – Grupo America (Dance)
5:45 pm – Burnaby Scottish Dancers
6:30 pm – Heart and Soul (Dance)
7:00 pm – Gradina (Dance)
8:00 pm – Johnny and The Walkers (Music)
9:45 pm – Alpha Video (DJ)

Greek Festival Food Stalls — Food Vendors at Vancouver Greek Summerfest

Saturday, July 8th, 2023

11:00 am – Alpha Video (DJ)
12:00 pm – Sts. Nicholas and Dimitrios High School Group (Dance)
12:15 pm – Lorita Leung Dance Academy
1:00 pm – Heart and Sole (Dance)
2:00 pm – The Unified (Music)
3:45 pm – The Spirit of the South Seas (Dance)
4:45 pm – Parea (Dance)
5:00 pm – Enosis (Dance)
5:15 pm – Raqs Bahiya (Dance)
5:45 pm – Vuk Karadzic Veterans (Dance)
6:00 pm – Zefyros (Dance)
6:30 pm – Minotavri Cretans (Dance)
8:00 pm – The Wolfeels (Music)
9:45 pm – Alpha Video (DJ)

Sunday, July 9th, 2023

11:00 am – Alpha Video (DJ)
12:00 pm – Kitka and Hubavitzi (Dance)
12:30 pm – Sudnya Dance Academy (Dance)
1:00 pm – Heart and Sole (Dance)
2:00 pm – Asi Somos (Music)
4:00 pm – Rancho Folclorico Cruz de Cristo (Dance)
5:00 pm – Parea (Dance)
5:15 pm – Enosis (Dance)
5:45 pm – Zefyros (Dance)
6:30 pm – Anemos (Dance)
7:00 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
7:30 pm – Roma Gry (Dance)
8:15 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
9:30 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)

Thursday, July 13th, 2023

6:00 pm – Vancouver Tap Dance Society (Dance)
6:30 pm – Kynthia (Music)
7:30 pm – Iconix (Music)
9:15 pm – Alpha Video (DJ)

Friday, July 14th, 2023

6:00 pm – Roma Gry (Dance)
6:30 pm – Vancouver Tap Dance Society (Dance)
8:00 pm – The New Marauderz (Music)
9:45 pm – Alpha Video (DJ)

Saturday, July 15th, 2023

11:00 am – Alpha Video (DJ)
2:00 pm – Sound Machine (Music)
4:00 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
4:45 pm – Parea (Dance)
5:00 pm – Zefyros (Dance)
5:30 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
6:15 pm – Enosis (Dance)
6:30 pm – Minotavri Cretans (Dance)
7:30 pm – Zefyros (Dance)
8:15 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
9:00 pm – Greek Social Dancing (Dance)
9:45 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
10:15 pm – Alpha Video (DJ)
10:30 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)

Sunday, July 16th, 2023

11:00 am – Alpha Video (DJ)
12:00 pm – Sts. Nicholas and Dimitrious High School Group (Dance)
2:00 pm – Mexico Flamenco (Dance)
3:00 pm – Porier Productions (Dance)
3:30 pm – Group Folclore Da Madeira of Vancouver (Dance)
4:00 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
4:45 pm – Parea (Dance)
5:00 pm – Mexico Vivo (Dance)
5:30 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
6:15 pm – Enosis (Dance)
6:30 pm – Anemos (Dance)
7:00 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
7:45 pm – Zefyros (Dance)
8:15 pm – Yannis Sahamis (Music)
9:45 pm – Alpha Video (DJ)

Greek Food Menu

The 2023 menu had full dinner platters as its entrees, with each dish accompanied by salad, rice, tzatsiki and bread. The different entrees were BBQ lamb ($29), chicken and pork souvlaki (both $25), gyro ($25), tyropita ($18) and spanakopita ($20).

Appetizers included Greek fries ($9), spanakopita-spinach pie ($9.50) and hummus with pita bread ($8). For dessert one option was loukoumades (a fried dough) dipped in honey with sesame seeds and cinnamon ($8).

Visit the Greek Summerfest website to see the full menu.

Greek Fest Food Tent — People Enjoying the Greek Food and Entertainment

Tips & 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: