5 fun facts about Panegyri Greek Festival. (Also, how to pronounce gyro like a pro)

The Enquirer
·3 min read

The Panegyri Greek Festival, your opportunity to take in the sights, sounds – and most famously, tastes! – of Greece without leaving Greater Cincinnati is this weekend. Celebrating its 48th year, the three-day festival is hosted by the parishioners of Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Finneytown and offers a wide array of Greek food, live traditional music, dancing and more.

Whether you’re new to the Panegyri or a frequent flyer, we thought it might be fun to reach out to the festival organizers for some lesser-known facts about one of the largest Greek festivals in the country.

Here’s what we learned:

🎡: Church festivals happening around town this weekend

🚗: 10 epic music festivals worth the drive from Cincinnati

What does panegyri mean?

Panegyri, literally translated, means “all around.” The root is gyro, as in gyroscope. (We’ll talk about gyro the sandwich in a moment.) The word is used to describe large gatherings or festivals. In Greece, a panegyri often is held at a church on the feast day of its patron saint. It’s pronounced pan-ehh-YEE-ree. Extra points if you can roll the “r” at the end.

Everyone loves baklava, the syrup-soaked filo-dough pastry layered with walnuts. How many walnuts do you go through?

In addition to traditional baklava, the Panegyri will serve a chocolate-dipped variety of the classic Greek pastry.
In addition to traditional baklava, the Panegyri will serve a chocolate-dipped variety of the classic Greek pastry.

The Panegyri features baklava and other classic Greek pastries, all handmade by parishioners. Not only does this keep the pastries fresh and authentic, but it also provides the opportunity for the yiayias (grandmothers) of the community to pass the tradition of pastry baking down to the younger generations.

For this year’s festival, 400 pounds of walnuts were used to make approximately 10,000 pieces of baklava.

Pro tip: Don’t wait until the last day to get your baklava – it sells out quickly.

Tell us about the music – what gives it that unique sound?

The bouzouki – a long-necked stringed instrument in the same family as the lute and mandolin – is what gives Greek folk music its distinctive sound. It has steel strings (usually eight coupled in pairs, like a 12-string guitar) and originates from instruments brought from Turkey and the Balkans during the Greco-Turkish War in the early 1900s. The word bouzouki comes from the Turkish buzuk, meaning “broken” or “modified.”

Tehmi Kakias plays the bouzouk at the 2019 Panegyri.
Tehmi Kakias plays the bouzouk at the 2019 Panegyri.

OK, so once and for all, how do you pronounce gyro?

The Panegyri goes through more than 3,200 pounds of gyro meat, a lamb-beef blend cooked on a rotisserie and sliced thin. So how do you pronounce this most famous of Greek street food?

First of all, the Greeks are known for their over-the-top hospitality (philoxenia – literally, love of strangers), so no one is going to roll their eyes if you pronounce it “ji-ro,” as in “gyroscope.” But if you want to sound like you just arrived from Athens, say, “YEE-ro,” and be sure to roll that “r.”

The challenge of pronouncing gyro was the topic of this Tonight Show video (below) featuring Jimmy Fallon and country singer Luke Bryan.

Anything new this year?

Yes! If you want to attend multiple days, you can now get a weekend pass for $5 (daily admission is $3 for adults and free for children 12 and under). A portion of admission proceeds will be donated to the Freestore Foodbank and the church’s Good Shepherd Food Pantry.

And, back by popular demand, the Panegyri will be serving its famous Ouzo Lemonade.

FROM THE ARCHIVES: Cincinnati chili, a Greek church festival and the scent of cinnamon

Bonus fact: How many people does it take to stage the Panegyri?

When you tally up the festival volunteers, including the dancers who have been practicing for months, the number tops 500. Many of the volunteers will be wearing blue “Panegyri volunteer” T-shirts – they can’t wait to welcome you.

Greek dancers of all ages are part of the cultural experience offered by the Panegyri Greek Festival.
Greek dancers of all ages are part of the cultural experience offered by the Panegyri Greek Festival.

The Panegyri Greek Festival runs 5-11 p.m. Friday, June 23; 3-11 p.m. Saturday, June 24; and 1-8 p.m. Sunday, June 25, on the grounds of Holy Trinity-St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 7000 Winton Road, Finneytown. Free parking with shuttle service is available at St. Xavier High School. For more information, go to Panegyri.com.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Panegyri Greek Festival 2023: 5 fun facts about baklava, gyros, more