Over the weekend, 100,000 people descended onto Lonsdale Street for Australia’s largest Greek Street party and celebration of all things Greek. The 2020 Antipodes Festival was a great success despite fears that coronavirus would keep people at bay.

Organised by the Greek Community of Melbourne, the Festival featured a record number (over 90) of food, retail and community stalls, over 40 hours of free live entertainment programmed across three stages, children’s rides and attractions as well as plethora of delicious authentic food offerings.

Despite numbers being down from last year, the event was a huge success and still regarded as the largest celebration of all things Greek outside of Greece, attracting a good mix of intergenerational first-time and regular attendees from all works of life.

Victoria’s Premier Dan Andrews officially opened the Festival and acknowledged the contribution of the Greek Community to Victoria and the importance of multiculturalism. “You can’t imagine Melbourne and Victoria without the contribution of the Greek community,” he said. “After all, Melbourne, the capital of Victoria; Athens, the capital of Greece; and Thessaloniki, the capital of macedonia, are great Greek cities of the world. We come together to celebrate Greek culture and heritage, Greek language, the contribution that the Greek community have made and that we’re all in this together.”

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Photos: Stavroula Lambropoulou

Greek Community of Melbourne President Bill Papastergiadis also addressed the audience and introduced former Greek National Soccer captain and 2004 Euro championship player Giorgos Caragounis.

Across the weekend there was an abundance of vibrant, passionate performances including from two of the audience favourites at Delphi Bank Stage, the Opening and Closing Night Feature Acts Giota Negka and Sifis Tsourdalakis.

Other stand outs included the DJ set debut by Kosmas Events which embraced the next generation of Greek Aussies with their highly anticipated dance party tunes and the Xylouris Brothers who were joined by Giorgos Frantzeskakis and Giorgos Stratakis delighting the audience with their unique style of Cretan music that had party goers dancing in the street.
The Zorba ‘Til You Drop Competition attracted a huge crowd, with Nikos Vokkolos winning the event after one hour and 48 minutes of non-stop dancing. His prize? A free trip to Greece.

READ MORE: Heading to the Antipodes Festival this year? Giota Negka invites you to ‘come with an open heart’

The 2020 Antipodes Festival showcased the best of Greek arts and culture, entertainment and food for another year, living up to its’ reputation as one of the highlights of Melbourne’s cultural calendar.