‘The Greek Experience’ Is Returning To Danbury

DANBURY — Assumption Greek Orthodox Church has announced the dates for “The Greek Experience 2000,” a popular festival throughout the Danbury area for the past 21 years.

The festival — which features traditional Greek food, dancing, raffles, games and other activities — will be held on Friday, June 9, from 5 to 11 pm; Saturday, June 10, from noon to 11 pm, and Sunday, June 11, noon to 9 pm.

Greek food and pastries have proven very popular with festivalgoers over the years, and church parishioners will again be serving souvlaki, gyros, pastichio, lamb, baklava, and all the other traditional Greek favorites. The festival also offers tours of the church’s extensive iconography.

Icons are religious images of the stories told in the Bible. Such painted panels have been used to teach the readings of the Bible since at least the 12th Century. Icons are considered orthodoxy’s highest artistic achievement.

In 1998, Tom Athanasios Clark completed an iconography project at the Clapboard Ridge Road church that had been in the works for nearly a decade. Mr Clark, a former altar boy of Assumption, now lives in Greece with his wife and four children, but continues to maintain a close relationship with the church and pastor of his childhood.

“The Greek Experience” is held on the grounds of the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, at 30 Clapboard Ridge Road (Route 39). The church is less than one mile north of Exit 5 off Interstate 84.

Plenty of parking is available at nearby Danbury High School and regular shuttle bus service is provided. Parking, bus rides and admission to the festival are free.