Ya'ssoo! Ann Arbor's Greek Festival returns this weekend
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Ann Arbor's annual Ya'ssoo Greek Festival returns starting on Friday.
Starting in the early 1970s, it's been bringing Greek culture to the local community for 50 years.
The event features authentic Greek food, drinks and dancing on the grounds of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.
"So much of our country and so much of Western civilization is based on things that came out of ancient Greece that I think it makes for easy connections for a lot of people to see things," said Fr. Nicolaos H. Kotsis.
One highlight of the event is the food. Organizers estimate they serve around 7,000 to 8,000 plates over the weekend.
Volunteers spend days in the kitchen ahead of the big event, making traditional baklava, dinner items, and, at the time of our visit, lemon yogurt cake.
The Taverna will be serving Greek wine, Greek beer and the country's famed ouzo.
"Our ouzo shots can be purchased just individually, on the rocks, or we also will be doing shotskis," said organizer Elizabeth Bairactaris. "So, if there's you and your family, we'd love to watch you and your friends do a shotski together. We'll videotape it for you and let it be part of your Greek experience."
The festival is also known for its lively dance performances.
"We have these beautiful young people who practice very long and hard to get these dances just right," said festival president Deno Prokos. "They have beautiful authentic costumes, and then when everyone else joins in with them, that's quite beautiful."
"It's something I look forward to every year,' said volunteer Ted Davlantes. "It's a lot of fun; it's a lot of work, but it takes a lot of passion of the people and commitment to the church to make this a tremendous success."
"The parishioners do so much work to bring this together, from the kitchen cooking every last item, the (women) making all the desserts together. We've been doing this since March, April, getting things ready, our kids dancing, and all of us coming together so that we can share who we are and our culture and experiences, and the food so that everybody can come and be Greek for the day," said Bairactaris.
The festival will take place from 11 a.m. to midnight on Friday and Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Admission is $5 cash at the door starting at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Kids ages 12 and under are free. Parking is also free.
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church is located at 3109 Scio Church Road.