They were holding out for a gyro!
Thousands of Brooklynites visited Downtown’s Saint Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral’s annual Greek Festival last week, where attendees got a taste of Hellenic music, culture, and — most of all — the popular pita dish, according to the celebration’s director.
“The most popular food is the gyro,” said Michelle Tampakis, who is the co-chair of the annual extravaganza. “We sell thousands of pounds of gyro.”
Tampakis said more than 10,000 stopped by the week-long festival on Schemerhorn Street — in its 39th edition this year — which the Greek Orthodox church puts on every year to raise money for the house of worship and nearby A. Fantis Parochial School.
This year’s event raked in $140,000, much of it thanks to sales of gyros, souvlaki, spinach pie, pastries, and octopus — the church sold 250 pounds of the cephalopod specialty, according to Tampakis.
The celebration also included traditional dancing, bouncy houses for the kids, and many of the same smiles from years past, said Tampakis.
“It’s nice to see a lot of the same faces from year after year,” she said.
