By DANI SAFFORD

PAWTUCKET — If you’re in the mood for some authentic Baklava, you don’t need to book a flight to Athens.

Beginning on Friday evening and continuing through this evening, the parish members and community of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Church will be serving up traditional Greek fare at this year’s 81st Annual Grecian Festival at the 97 Walcott St. church in Pawtucket’s Quality Hill neighborhood.
“This is a celebration of the feast day of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and, of course, the ethnicity and the Greek culture because it’s something to be proud of,” said Marketing Director Elli Panichas. “This began 81 years ago as a picnic to celebrate the feast and it grew into a community event that’s become essential to the church. Greek Orthodox is a minority religion and the festival is for people to celebrate the religion, culture and heritage.”
Beginning on Friday night, the church grounds were transformed into a glendi, a Greek Village Festival, and an indoor/outdoor Agora was created using the inside and backyard of the church. Booths offering merchandise were named and decorated to correspond with a different Greek Island and despite the rainstorm, a Greek dance troupe performed for guests while they dined on dishes of Moussaka and Chicken Souvlaki.
“The dance troupe is a group that brings the kids in because we have three age groups. It brings the children into become a part of their community,” Panichas says.
As the years have progressed and the economy has been affected, the Greek Festival has made efforts to continue to be an affordable event for families while preserving the integrity of the religion and culture.
“With the economy the way it is, I thought it was a good opportunity to introduce families,” Panichas says. “It costs around twenty-nine dollars to get into a theme park, a friend of mine was telling me he paid ninety dollars just to park in Boston so the economy is excluding families. As they wait in anticipation to heating costs this winter, we just wanted to offer them a fun alternative this summer so they don’t feel like this missed anything.”
New at this year’s festival are miniature donkeys decked in Greek regalia for children to pose with for photos as well as an expanded Greek menu featuring new dishes such as the Loukaniko Specialty and “Village” Yogurt with honey and almonds. As in previous years, raffle tickets will be sold to festival goers for a chance to win an all-expenses paid trip to Sklathos, Greece, the site where the movie Mamma Mia was filmed.
The Grecian Festival continues today from noon to 9 p.m. The festival is a free public event and will be open rain or shine. For more information about the festival, visit www.greekfestivalri.com.