Mayor Tom Tate Opens Gold Coast Greek Festival at HOTA

by · Greek City Times

The Gold Coast Greek Festival opening takes place at HOTA this Saturday, 31 October, and launches two days of Greek food, music, dance and community.

The two-day celebration brings together performers, families and community associations from across Queensland. It runs from 12pm to 10pm on Saturday and from 10am to 4pm on Sunday 1 November.

The venue is HOTA, Home of the Arts, the arts precinct at 135 Bundall Road, Surfers Paradise. Tickets cost $10 per day for adults, while children under 13 enter free.

Gold Coast Greek Festival opening ceremony

The Gold Coast Greek Festival opening ceremony starts on the Main Stage at 2pm on Saturday. Before that, the official party gathers at 1.45pm, according to the festival runsheet.

Read more: Ouzo by the Bay: Portarlington Greek Festival Returns on 1 November

Nick Karanicolas performs the national anthems at 2pm. Shortly after, Father Romanos Stergiou blesses the festival.

Festival patron George Mastrocostas, Honorary Consul-General of Greece in Queensland, then speaks to the crowd. Next, the Mayor of Ancient Olympia, Aristeidis Panagiotopoulos, addresses guests.

Finally, Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate speaks and officially declares the festival open. The two mayors signed a sister-city agreement between the Gold Coast and Olympia earlier this year.

Competitions, dancing and fireworks on Saturday

Saturday’s Main Stage program begins at 12.30pm with a festival welcome and a Glendi performance. Then a honey puff eating competition follows at 1.45pm, just before the Gold Coast Greek Festival opening.

After the ceremony, the Cypriot senior dancers perform at 2.30pm. The plate-smashing competition follows at 2.45pm, and the grEchoes band plays at 3pm.

An olive-spitting competition starts at 3.30pm, while Greek dancing lessons begin at 3.45pm. St Anna’s Senior Dancers also perform at 5pm and 7pm. The day ends with fireworks over Evandale Lake at 9.45pm.

Around the site, the festival map also shows an Evzones Photo Exhibition, a live Lego build and a backgammon area. Food stalls, a bar, first aid and water stations sit nearby. The exhibition features about 26 large-format prints from photographer Nick Bourdaniotis’ Evzones Collection.

For many visitors, the Gold Coast Greek Festival opening will be the first chance to explore this layout beside the HOTA Gallery.

The Gold Coast Greek Festival opening weekend map at HOTA, Surfers Paradise. Image: Supplied

George Calombaris leads the cooking program

Inside the Lakeside Room, George Calombaris presents a cooking demonstration at 12.30pm on Saturday, titled “Eggs, Potatoes, Eggs”. At the same time, a backgammon competition gets underway.

Vikki Moursellas also runs a cooking class at 1.30pm. Later, she makes Oregano Yoghurt Pita Bread at 3pm, then Chickpea Fritters with Minty Yoghurt at 4.15pm.

On Sunday, pastry chef Anna Polyviou and her mother Gina open the cooking at 11.15am with sweet and savoury loukoumades. Moursellas returns at 12.15pm to cook soutzoukakia.

Mother and daughter go head to head at 1.15pm, when Mum’s Spanakopita meets Anna’s Spanakopita Spring Rolls. At 2.30pm, Gina’s Keftedes take on Anna’s Sausage Rolls, and the Ellinikes Fones Choir sings between demonstrations.

Gold Coast Greek Festival opening weekend continues on Sunday

Sunday’s Main Stage opens with a festival welcome at 11.15am, followed by a Glendi performance at 11.20am. Cretan dancers take the stage at 11.50am and again at 2.05pm.

Visitors can also join a plate-smashing competition at 12.35pm, and Cypriot intermediate dancers perform at 1.20pm. A honey puff eating competition starts at 2.20pm, before Greek dancing lessons at 2.35pm.

Lastly, the Art Union raffle draw takes place at 3.45pm and closes the program.

Community groups behind the festival

Several Greek community organisations take part in the festival. They include the Greek Orthodox Community of St Anna on the Gold Coast and Athelfotis Zarakiton (Spartans).

The Greek Orthodox Parish of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Southside Parish) also participates. So do the Cretan Association of Queensland, the Cypriot Community Association of Queensland and the Greek Orthodox Community of Saints Theodore Townsville.

Helen Mastrocostas chairs the organising committee. Organisers expect around 10,000 visitors across the Gold Coast Greek Festival opening weekend. Greek City Times previewed the festival earlier this month, and more details are available from the City of Gold Coast and the festival website.

Source: Gold Coast Greek Festival

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