2012 Camarillo Greek Festival: Photos and extended coverage.

 

Top:  A costumed team sets out on the mud run.

2nd:  Running through the mud.

3rd:  A refrigerator sports festival stickers dating back to 1999.

4th:  Artist's conception of the new St. Demetrios.

5th:  The current church as it stands today.

Bottom:  Dancers start to pack the floor as The Olympians dig in.

All of the above pictures were taken on Saturday, the second day of the festival.  It began with a tie-in event, a mud run.

Of course, there are festival menu items to report.  The chicken dinner was fantastic, as were the gyros.  Even the snow cones were great.

For those of you still wondering, Opa Dude was back for this festival, though his image was only used as part of the social networking efforts.

 

Camarillo Greek Festival

Keftethes:  This meatball dish comes with traditional flatbread and a yogurt dressing with cucumbers.  The meatballs have lots of seasoning.  It's fantastic.

Galaktoboureko:  This tasted ok, but the texture was off.  I suppose you have to eat it right after it's made.  It's made fresh every day, but I had it at the end of the day.  The moisture from the custard had dampened the once flaky layers of dough.

Souvlaki:  This pork dinner is excellent.  It comes with Greek green beans, rice pilaf, pita bread, a dinner roll and a salad.

Saganaki: Flaming sheep cheese!  What a great highlight!  Sheep cheese is one of the great Mediterranean diet items.  It tastes great and has too many health benefits to mention.

The entertainment was great as usual, though I missed the dance troupes.  The Olympians are as hard-driving as ever, playing much longer than their advertised, scheduled sets.  Yesterday, I heard bass lines from "Louie, Louie" and "Smoke on the Water."  Olympians, if you're reading this, follow your impulses and cut loose for a few minutes.

Camarillo Greek Festival: Extended Coverage

The Olympians are back!  You can hear their love of the music.  Some sets are traditional Greek, while others veer towards a rock instrumental vein.  The melodies get carried alternately by the singer, electric guitarist and a traditional instrument that resembles a Portuguese guitar.

The other highlight to the festival is the menu.  Today, I sampled the lamb and pastichio dinners.  The lamb is more substantial, while the pastichio features an over-the-top cream sauce that makes up for the lack of nutrition.

Hello and goodbye to the ICF

The Italian Catholic Federation 340 is folding up and merging with the Fil-Am group and others to form the International Catholic Federation.  There have been no public events that I'm aware of, but their food sales should be extremely interesting.

Watch this space.

2012 Camarillo Greek Festival

Will Opa Dude come back?  How will the baklava be this year?  Come to the Camarillo Greek Festival and find out.

June 22-24, at the Greek Orthodox church by the airport.

Bounce houses galore!