A Greek tragedy: Virus concerns force cancellation of festival
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STEUBENVILLE -- Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church has pulled the plug on its 2020 Greek Festival.
Parish Council President and Festival Co-chair Anthony Mougianis said there wasn't much choice.
"Several factors came into play," Mougianis said Wednesday. "Paramount above all is the safety, not just of our patrons but also our volunteers. That was a challenge because our Greek community is elderly and many of our volunteers are above that 65-year-old threshold -- actually they're above 75. It's just a fear they had of being around people, the (risk of) exposure, to the COVID-19 virus."
Mougianis concedes it wasn't an easy decision: As recently as four months ago organizers had hoped to be able to present a modified festival in October, a shorter event still with music but minus the vendors and a scaled-back menu.
Mougianis said it would have been difficult "to put on anything close to a normal event" this year.
"Basically, we'd be (reducing) it down to a carry-out service, nothing near what a normal festival would be like," he said, adding that, economics aside, "We're doing what we feel is the best and safest way to go about it this year."
"Next year will be what we focus on - with God helping us, we hope to be in a far better situation from this whole pandemic deal and get back to normalcy in 2021. Our hope and prayer is to be able to come back stronger than ever."
"It was bittersweet trying to come up with the proper (thing to do)," he added. "But we looked at everything, and felt it was in the best interests of everyone to postpone it until next year. It was very hard. We put our heart and soul into this thing, starting in January. It's been a tradition for 30-some odd years now. It gets harder every year, I'm not going to tell you it doesn't. As we age, it gets more difficult. But we take pride in doing it, it's important to our local area and people really look forward to it -- that's the toughest part, it's disappointing the community."
Mougianis said the festival is important to the lifeblood of the church, explaining Holy Trinity relies on the income it generates.
"Our little church relies on income from this event to keep going," he said. "It's very typical of local churches, of all denominations. Our area has not done well at keeping young people. People pass on, the parish dwindles and gets smaller and along with that, our ability to collect income and pay bills. So it's a needed event for us."
He said they realize the community will be disappointed, but said he hopes they understand.
"I know they'll look forward to next year and, God willing, we'll be able to come back with a bang."