Oopa! While in Columbia, SC this weekend, I had an opportunity to check out the 19th Annual Greek Festival held in the downtown area. Now, in my opinion, the two best reasons to go to such a festival is the food and the music. Plus, it gives you a good and legal excuse to consume beer out in the street. And for the record, in the spirit of things, I started out with a nice Greek import (the name escapes me at the moment). It was pretty good, not spectacular by comparison to the Bud's I started drinking (because they were cheaper).

Between the entire family, as we all pretty much ate a la carte, we chowed down on all of the following:
Souvlaki(Marinated tenderloin on skewer with bread)
Souvlaki (With salad and bread)
Souvlaki Basket (Souvlaki, Greek potatoes, salad and bread)
Greek Roasted Potatoes (small) (Souvlaki booth)
Greek Roasted Potatoes (large) (Souvlaki booth)
Gyro (Blend of beef and lab with onion, tomato and dressing on pita bread)
Greek Fries (in Gyro Booth)
Loukoumades (Greek Doughnuts)


Aside from the food and drinks, there were a bunch of booths set for vendors to peddle their wares. Didn't spend any money on that, but it was interesting to window shop. You got to see a lot of Greek influence as well as authentic Greek items. But better than the vendor booths was the music smack dab in the middle of the joint, complete with dance floor. "Night In Athens" Trio: George Antonopoulos, Nick Trivelas & Joanna was the entertainment on hand, and there's something about Greek music, especially live, that seems to lift the spirits a bit. That, and watching a 2 year old dance to the tunes was very entertaining.

And I'm glad we chose this route as far as family entertainment goes. It could have been worse. We could have ended up at the Okra Strut, which was also going on at the same time. Having grown up attending the Strut, I had pretty much had my fill of Okra and was perfectly content recognizing the fact that it was going on, yet failing to participate.

All in all, just a good weekend.  ¶ 10:37 PM