Greek Festival celebrates a culture that survived the unthinkable

All week we were talking about whether we should go or not. If we did go, Friday evening was our primary choice. While we talked amongst ourselves about making the trip to one of Fresno’s many staple events, an army of volunteers were preparing for the weekend and expecting thousands of people to come into the grounds of St. George Orthodox Church.

When I got home from work on Friday, it was settled. We were headed to the Greek Festival. I have gone to the festival almost every year since 1991, the year we arrived to Fresno from Southern California. Each year, it seems as though the festival gets bigger and bigger. When I was younger, the festival meant fun, food, dancing and good company. Now, I still have fun, eat good food and enjoy the traditions of the Greeks.

As I get older, it makes more sense to me the significance of this event. As an Armenian American, I have a connection to the Greeks. Both people passed dark days. On April 24, 1915, Armenians around the world commemorate the Armenian Genocide. Along with remembering the Armenians who perished, we also remember the Greeks, Assyrians and other Christian groups that were targeted.

The Ottoman Turkish government tried to wipe out the Greeks around that period. According to the Greek Genocide Resource Center, on Jan.1, 1918, The New York Times reported that “At least 1 million Greek men, women and children, have perished…” due to organized massacres.

We arrived at the festival and entered the doors of the church. The ceiling was beautifully painted with various religious artworks. I could hear the visitors talk about how beautiful everything is. There was a little bit of history as well. The church was consecrated on Nov. 22, 1959, and the ceiling decorations were finished in 2016.

When we left the church, we sat in the area of the kid zone, with bounce houses near. I grabbed a table, while my wife got the food. We enjoyed our gyro sandwiches and then, it was time for the children to bounce. As I watched my kids having a blast jumping and laughing, I recalled a recent visit to Fresno by Eleni Kounalakis, former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary.

Her father had emigrated from Greece to the U.S. at 14 years old, alone and penniless. He worked hard, and realized the American dream. The ex-ambassador herself has made history as well. She is the first Greek-American woman to be a U.S. ambassador and did it at age 43, one of the youngest women to ever serve in the role.

Once the kids were tired of jumping, we chatted with friends and family and then headed to the dance area. The live band was performing a number of upbeat, fun songs. Many people of different ethnic backgrounds were dancing traditional Greek dances and, I could tell by their smiles, they were having a great time. We, too, were enjoying ourselves.

It was near the dance floor that I ran into KMPH’s Kopi Sotiropulos. Kopi is probably Fresno’s most well-known Greek American. Based on the fact that I see him all around town, and he is always filming, it safe to say that he is a very hard worker. We said our hellos, chatted a little and off he went to take a picture with fans who were excited to see him.

After listening to several songs, it was time for us to head out. The boys were drowsy from being so tired. The shuttle took us to our car. As I drove off and out of the block of the beautiful church, I thought about the hundreds of volunteers that were needed to put on this massive production. The festival provided a fun way for people to learn about the Greek culture.

We got home and the kids immediately knocked out. As I laid in bed, I thought of a line from the movie “The Promise,” where Ana, a character played by Charlotte Le Bon, said “Our revenge will be to survive.” Survival and celebration after being victims of an attempted genocide sounds like the perfect revenge. Next year, we’ll be back and celebrate a culture that survived the unthinkable.

This story was originally published September 1, 2017 at 1:40 PM with the headline "Greek Festival celebrates a culture that survived the unthinkable."