The Greek Festival in North Royalton, Ohio

The St. Paul Annual Grecian Festival in North Royalton, Ohio mirrors its host city: family-friendly and accessible to all. This four-day festival is a summer favorite of this Cleveland suburb and points beyond, offering authentic Greek food, entertainment and activities. Whether newly arrived from the motherland, or just have a craving for an excellent gyro or a slice of spanakopita, head to the St. Paul Greek Orthodox Church in mid-July for this northeast Ohio event.

Festival Information

• The festival serves as an annual fundraiser for the St. Paul Greek Orthodox Church community in North Royalton. The outstanding spread of Greek food is for sale in the main dining room, pastry line and cafeteria-style tent. All food items on the menu can also be ordered to-go and conveniently picked up at the drive-thru tent in the parking lot. Admission and parking are free.

Entertainment

• Live musical entertainment and dancing take place every evening in the main dining room and outdoor tent. Depending on the line-up, festival goers may enjoy a modern twist on traditional Greek music with Ohio band, Stigma, as well as nightly acts by local performers like Dimitri and Al Dadas. Experience traditional folk dancing each evening with the St. Paul Hellenic Dancers. Dancers include both children and adults, are fully costumed in traditional Greek garb and perform on a rolling schedule throughout the festival.

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Greek Festival in Nashville, Tennessee

The Greek Festival is an early fall festival tradition in Nashville, Tennessee. With the intention of exposing people of all backgrounds to the Greek cultural experience, the festival offers activities for adults, families and kids and is sure to please the palates of Greek food lovers, as well. Whatever your heritage and wherever you're from, you're sure to leave this southern city's Greek festival enriched, enlightened and well-fed.

Adult Activities

• During the festival, the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church opens its doors so festival-goers can see the church's wall-painted iconography and learn about the Greek Orthodox faith, which dates to the time of the apostles. The festival also offers shopping options through its agora, or marketplace. There, vendors sell artisan creations like ceramics, Russian nesting dolls and religious icons, as well as clothing, cookbooks, scarves, handbags and accessories.

Family Fun

• Live entertainment is provided all day during the festival weekend. Greek music and dance is performed throughout the afternoon and evening, and there's plenty of open space for dancing by all ages, regardless of skill level. For active kids, the church hosts a petting zoo, opens its playground, offers pony rides and sets up a climbing wall and bouncy house. In the agora, children can also have their faces painted or choose glittered tattoos to apply.

Food

• What would a Greek festival be without Greek food? For visitors hungry for dinner, the festival cooks up Greek specialties like gyros topped with tzatziki -- a mint and yogurt sauce; spanakopita -- spinach and cheese baked in phyllo dough; and moussaka -- a layered beef, cheese and eggplant baked dish. Other festival-goers stock up on the pastries. You can buy your fill of diples -- rolled and fried dough covered with honey and walnuts; koulorakia -- Greek butter cookies; or baklava.

Details

• Running from from morning until evening on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Greek Festival is held each year on an early September weekend. Admission is nominal for adults, free for kids under 12 and free for anyone who gets tickets early enough on the festival's website. Even if you don't need to pay admission for the entertainment, you'll want to bring some cash for dinner and to-go pastries.

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