Contributed FESTIVAL FUN — Lefteri, the Greek Evzone Mascot, shared a moment with, from left, Vasso Espinosa, Tara Mougianis and Angie Mahfood during last year's Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church Grecian Food Festival. This year's event will run Wednesday through Friday.

STEUBENVILLE — Some community events might have a short lifespan, maybe a year or two.

Others might run for a couple of decades.

But when an event lasts for many decades and continues to attract thousands of residents from across the Tri-State Area and beyond, it’s most likely because it has become something that the community has really embraced.

That’s the case with the annual Grecian Food Festival held by Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.

This year’s event, which will run from Wednesday through Friday, will be the 40th annual, and, according to co-chair Tara Mougianis, there’s a simple reason behind that longevity.

“I really think this is the premiere event of the summer,” she explained. “I think people enjoy live music, they enjoy the dancing and they enjoy the food. You don’t see a lot of events anymore where you get that many people out enjoying each other’s fellowship and friendship.

“People look forward to this event all year long,” Mougianis continued. “On Friday night, the last night of the festival, somebody will always ask, ‘When are the dates for next year?'”

Set to run from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day — rain or shine — at the church located at the corner of South Fourth and South streets, this year’s festival will feature lots of entertainment, live music, indoor and outdoor seating, dancing, church tours, a chance to enjoy Greek beer (and other adult beverages), a Kafeneio and the return of Lefteri, the Greek Evzone Mascot. Standing more than 7 feet tall, the costumed character pays tribute to the elite Greek presidential guards and appears at Greek festivals around the country.

He’ll be available for pictures and to meet attendees all three days of the festival.

“We have entertainment all day and in the evening, which is something a lot of festivals don’t have,” she said. “There will be somebody outside playing live all day.”

While all of those activities will be enjoyable, the food, as always, will be the real star of the show.

All of the traditional favorites will be available, from roasted chicken, lamb stew, plaki fish and sausage dinners to pastitsio, spanakopita, tyropita, moussaka, grape leaves and, of course, gyros. The chicken, fish and sausage dinners come with rice pilaf and green beans, which also can be purchased by themselves.

“We have many people who just get large containers of rice and green beans. Those are our biggest sellers — rice and green beans,” Mougianis said.

And then there are the pastries, which include baklava, koulourakia, diples bows, almond cookies, loukoumades and more. They always are among the first items to disappear.

“When it comes to the pastries, people will come Thursday evening and they will say, ‘I can’t believe you don’t have this,'” Mougianis said. “There are certain items that just sell out — people come at 11 a.m. the first day and they are in line to get what they want.”

There will be a change in one of the festival’s favorite desserts: Baklava sundaes, Mougianis said, will be moving inside this year and will be served a little differently — the festival has a soft-serve machine and will be using that, instead of hand-scooped ice cream, to make the treat.

Preparing all of that food and making sure it gets to the serving lines when the more than 20,000 people who are expected to attend the festival are ready to eat is a huge undertaking, Mougianis explained.

And the amount of food that will be prepared is nothing short of amazing, according to Marlane and Stan Figurski, who have served as the main chefs for many years.

During the course of the three-day festival, Marlane Figurski said, they will prepare 48 cases of chicken (which is between 1,300 and 1,400 pieces, Stan Figurski added), 650 pounds of lamb, more than 3,000 pounds of green beans, 120 cones of gyro meat (at 30 pounds to a cone), 30 cases of fish (containing 20 pieces of fish each), 20 cases of sausage (with 30 links in each case), 7,000 grape leaves, 750 pounds of rice and 80 pans of spanakopita (with 24 pieces in each pan.)

For the pastitsio, they will use 80 pounds of noodles and 80 pounds of ground meat, Marlane added.

Preparation begins at 6 a.m. each day.

“Everything we cook takes an hour, so we really have to be on the ball and keep track of what needs to be cooked next, so we are not running out on the line. It’s a really choreographed dance. Some people want to know why we come in so early — that’s why,” Marlane Figurski said.

It’s intensive work, she added.

“With the lamb stew, we used to hand chop all of the vegetables, but we have finally gotten the vegetables that are pre-cut, so all we have to do is boil them and make the sauces,” Marlane Figurski said. “It still takes time — there are at least five days of prep that go into the food prior to the festival, maybe six days. By the time the festival starts, we are already tired.”

The Figurskis and Mougianis said the flow is constant, with large lunch crowds gathering at noon. After a slight break in the afternoon, it will kick up again about 4:30 p.m. Lines will stretch outside of Hellenic Hall by 6 p.m. or so, and will remain steady until about 8 p.m.

A corps of volunteers helps to make the festival run smoothly.

“The people who volunteer from the community are just fantastic,” Mougianis said, adding that members of her staff jump right in to help as well. And, she added, by the time the festival closes Friday evening, all of the food will have been sold.

Food is available to eat at the festival. Carry-out and online orders will be accepted and gift cards will be available. Admission is free, and there is plenty of free parking available.

Tony Mougianis, Tara’s husband, is serving as co-chair. Major sponsors for the festival are Priority Health Care and Apollo Pro Cleaning and Restoration.

The festival is the church’s biggest fundraiser of the year, Tara Mougianis said. It will continue its tradition of donating money to a local charity — $2,000 will be presented to the Lee West Foundation at 11 a.m. Wednesday, during the ribbon-cutting that will officially open the festival.