CANCELED: Greek Fest Plus

Annual church picnic, noon-7 pm on 7/25 and noon-6 pm, 7/26, Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, with food, traditional music, church tours, kids' activities, market. Free. agocwi.org. 608-244-1001.

press release: Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (AGOC) regrets to announce the cancellation of our annual Greek Fest Plus celebration that was scheduled for July 25-26, 2020. After weighing the serious public health concerns due to COVID-19, Madison’s longest running ethnic festival is canceled until 2021. “Canceling Greek Fest gives us the time to pause and assess what our church needs right now, as we do our part to keep our community healthy during these challenging times,” explains Greek Fest chair Maria Schirmer Devitt. 

Greek Fest began as an annual church picnic at Hoyt Park in 1963. Over the decades, the celebration has grown into a weekend-long block party with food, dancing and music overflowing at the corner of Milwaukee and 7th Street on Madison’s east side. Greek Fest changed the official name of the celebration to “Greek Fest Plus” to acknowledge an increasingly multiethnic church community. The AGOC church family includes people from Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Syria, Jordan, Ethiopia and Greece. “If you look at the  Greek Fest Plus signs, you can see a little plus sign next to Greek Fest, which is supposed to represent an Orthodox cross, showing that many cultures worship [at AGOC] under one roof,” Schirmer Devitt says. 

Assumption Greek Orthodox Church is a multicultural Orthodox Christian community that is part of the Diocese of Chicago of the Greek Orthodox Church in America. All are welcome to worship with us online at youtube.com/channel/UCilW706CFbCjkQ5hgdXQTYw. After COVID-19 is no longer a health concern, join us at our beautiful church at 11 N. 7th Street in Madison, Wisconsin, to experience the Divine Liturgy in a beautiful, traditional setting, and to hear songs from our renowned choir. For more information, visit agocwi.org.