OPA! - Boise's 36th Annual Greek Food Festival

Boise's 36th Annual Greek Food Festival took place this past weekend in the Downtown Boise area every year during the weekend after Memorial Day. St. Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Church has been the hosting hub for the festival over the years, and funds raised have been used to help support the church's outreach initiatives along with their partners such as Life's Kitchen.

Although there have been Greeks in the Boise area for much longer than 36 years, the festival was started by about 20 members of the Greek community as a way to introduce Boise to Greek culture. One of the originals, Effie Karellas Kaufman, said that promoting ethnicity in the community was important to them. Effie has deep roots in the Peninsula in areas such as Athens, Arcadia, and Kalata Village of Greece.