On a sunny weekend in early September, I arrive at the Greek Cultural Center on St. George Road in Springfield. I join the crowd gathered around the amphitheater-style steps, and for a moment I’m in Greece again.
Sizzling gyro meat, fragrant with cumin, oregano, and garlic, basting as it rotates on a vertical spit. Cinnamon-scented waves billowing from the loukoumades tent, where dollops of sweet dough are fried and drenched in a spiced syrup. The lively songs of the bouzoukia, a quintessential Greek string instrument, playing in the background. These are the scenes of my childhood. This is Glendi. The word “glendi” means “party,” and every September since 1978, St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Springfield has transformed a corner of the city into a bustling Greek celebration, complete with traditional music, dance performances, a marketplace with local artisans, a café that serves strong Greek coffee and sweets, and most importantly, an abundance of Greek food.
As the church’s largest annual fundraiser, 100% of Glendi proceeds support the parish’s philanthropic efforts and the upkeep of the historic cathedral. Upward of 10,000 attendees visit each year, but it wouldn’t be possible without the team of over 100 volunteers, who begin preparations months earlier.
All the food at Glendi is homemade. Throughout July and August, organizers host 18 workshops to assemble large quantities of menu items. Imagine 1,200 triangles of spanakopita—spinach pies wrapped in flaky pastry, 3,000 freshly picked grape leaves stuffed with herbed rice for dolmades, and over 10,000 pieces of assorted cookies and pastries, all made by hand. The result is a menu of authentic food cooked by seasoned yiayiades—grandmothers, and their families and friends.
Despina Costa wears many hats at St. George, including chairperson for the Glendi Committee. She began in her teens as a volunteer, where a group of Cretan women taught her to make loukoumades. Like many, Costa learned to cook Greek dishes from heirloom recipes that were passed down. “I’ve been making loukoumades at the Glendi since 1978. In those days, to cook about 30 pieces at a time, it was a pot of frying oil on a burner, with a teaspoon and a chunk of dough. In the late ’90s, through a donation by a parishioner, we purchased the fryolator and dough dispenser we use today. Over the three days of Glendi, we make about 18,000 loukoumades.”
Like Costa, Joannie McGirr is a founding volunteer, whose family runs the salad station. “My dad took pride in how his salads looked. His secret recipe was the Greek dressing,” she recalls. Today they make between 5,000 and 6,000 salads and 20 gallons of dressing over a single weekend, with every vegetable chopped by hand.
“Whether you’re Greek or not, everyone enjoys the food, music, and dancing,” Mc- Girr says. “People wait all year to have authentic Greek food and come from all over. We want to continue to share our traditions with everyone and pass them down, generation to generation.”
For Greek-Americans, and especially immigrants like my yiayia, Sophia Sergentanis, who came to the U.S. in 1959, Glendi has provided a sense of home. “The community and all the people were very welcoming, the first friends I made when I came from Greece,” recalls Sergentanis, who was a chairperson on one of the pastry committees for nearly 40 years. Today, at the age of 88, she still volunteers and looks back on earlier days with pride.
“It was a big thing for all of us. The first year we worked for three months to prepare. People came for the food and the pastries. They waited sometimes 30 minutes or an hour in line, but they don’t mind! The first one was so successful, after everybody left, we all stayed past midnight to celebrate!”
The thread that connects all of these stories is the Greek ethos of philoxenia—a deeply ingrained, almost unspoken law in Greek culture, where strangers are treated like family. It’s what makes Greeks the ultimate hosts, eager to welcome anyone into their homes, kitchens, and hearts with open arms and mountains of fresh, delicious food. Perhaps this is the secret ingredient that keeps visitors returning to Glendi year after year.
The 2026 Glendi celebration will run September 11–13 at St. George Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 22 St. George Rd., Springfield.
