Clearwater GreekFest takes over Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church this Friday through Sunday, October 23–25, with gyros, souvlaki and baklava alongside live music, dancing and tours of the parish's Byzantine-style cathedral. The three-day celebration runs 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, then wraps up Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., all at 409 S. Old Coachman Road in Clearwater.
The festival has operated since 1969, making it nearly 60 years old and, according to Creative Loafing Tampa, one of the oldest cultural celebrations in the Bay Area. The event site thegreekend.com similarly describes it as one of Pinellas County's oldest cultural celebrations, noting it has brought a taste of Greece to Tampa Bay for more than 56 years. There's no admission cover, though attendees should bring money for food, per the same Creative Loafing report.
What's on the Menu and the Schedule
Expect a spread of lamb shank, salad, plaki, pastitsio, gyros, souvlaki and desserts, according to the Creative Loafing report. Thegreekend.com's own rundown of the festival points to gyros, souvlaki, pastitsio, spanakopita, loukoumades and baklava, along with an invitation to come hungry. Beyond the food, the weekend includes Greek cooking demonstrations, Hellas Dancers of all ages, live music and an Opa! Party Tent for shopping and drinks, per the same listing.
Guided tours of the church's Byzantine-style sanctuary are part of the draw too, giving visitors a look inside the cathedral itself, the site notes. Visit St. Pete/Clearwater's event listing describes GreekFest as one of Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church's biggest public fundraisers, and a prior listing from that same tourism site noted that admission and parking were free, though that detail has not been separately confirmed for this year's event.
A Church Rebuilt From the Ashes
The cathedral attendees will tour this weekend wasn't always standing. Holy Trinity's original church was heavily damaged by a fire in February 2015, an incident that FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported investigators traced to a candle. The congregation held services in the church gym while the sanctuary was rebuilt, and the parish went on to receive more than $6 million in donations and pledges to fund the reconstruction, according to the same station's report.
The rebuilt church reopened four years later in 2019, Creative Loafing Tampa notes. Bay News 9 has similarly reported that Holy Trinity's old church was destroyed by the 2015 fire before the parish built a much bigger replacement that opened that year. By 2024, organizers were still marking the occasion as a milestone, with WFLA describing that year's GreekFest as celebrating over 55 years of tradition at the same Clearwater location.
A Welcoming, Growing Community
Organizers frame the festival as open to everyone, not just those with Greek heritage. The local Greek Orthodox community welcomes people regardless of whether they're from Greece, Creative Loafing Tampa reports, and the outlet notes that roughly 80 percent of marriages in the church today are between Greeks and non-Greeks. That blending mirrors a broader pattern across the region's Greek Orthodox parishes; a smaller, newer congregation in Palm Harbor has hosted its own Greek food festival as what Visit St. Pete/Clearwater describes as a community event put on by a small but dynamic parish.
Photos from past festivals, including dancers performing in traditional dress, have been credited to Kyriakos Caros and the Clearwater Greek Festival. With food, music, dancing and a rare look inside one of Pinellas County's architectural landmarks, this weekend's GreekFest offers both a cultural tradition and a glimpse at a church that rebuilt itself from a near-total loss just over a decade ago.
