Del Webb’s Tom Bovis had a chance to get back to his Greek roots during St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church’s Autumn Fall Fest on Nov. 20.
Bovis and his wife, Michelle, enjoyed homemade Greek food while listening to music and seeing photos of different areas of Greece in a slideshow.
“It’s like a flashback to Mom and Dad,” Tom Bovis said.
Michelle Bovis added, “It’s like visiting a memory seeing all the pictures of places we’ve been in Greece.”
The St. Barbara Philoptochos, a women’s philanthropic organization, hosted the Autumn Fall Fest to raise money for food banks in Manatee and Sarasota counties.
Members of St. Barbara Philoptochos served traditional Greek foods including pastitsio, roast Grecian chicken and oven-roasted lamb shanks.
Maria Kirlangitis, the vice president of the St. Barbara Philoptochos, and Marilyn Blazakis, the president, look forward to the fellowship of the event as well as raising money for those in need.
Volunteers and organizers of the Autumn Fall Fest are following social distancing guidelines and wearing masks to ensure people's safety during the event.
Desserts come prepackaged in boxes named after the different islands of Greece such as Mykonos and Crete. The Mykonos box has baklava, kourabiedes, melomakarona and koulourakia. The Crete box has double the desserts as Mykonos.
Savanna's Demitria Guimond dances to the music while manning the lottery board table.
Polo Run's Atheena Van Dijk works with Palm Aire's Louis Elias and her husband, Erik Van Dijk, in the kitchen. They arrived at the church at 7 a.m. to start working on the food for the festival.
Steve Kostos serves oven roasted lamb shanks with rice, green beans and pita.
Country Club's Paree Gardner offers a serving of pastitsio, which is a Greek version of lasagna, but her favorite dish is the roasted lamb shanks.
Del Webb's Tom and Michelle Bovis reminisce about their travels to Greece while attending the festival. "It's like visiting a memory seeing all the pictures of places we've been," Michelle Bovis says.
Doris Diodorou, Alexandra Stetler and Mary Tsottles, who are members of St. Barbara Philoptochos, help with Yaya's Treasures, which is like a flea market.
Desserts available at the fest include baklava, kourembiethes and melomakaronas. Kourembiethes are a wedding cookie and melomakaronas are honey cookies.
