This weekend marks 25 years since the first Greek Glendi festival in Darwin and the top end is ready for a Glendi.
John Nicolakis, president of the Greek Orthodox Community of Northern Territory, says that this weekend is going to be the biggest festival Darwin has ever seen. The festival is expecting record crowds.
“We expect between 40 and 50,000 people to attend the Darwin Greek Glendi this weekend, that’s more than half of the population of Darwin,” Mr Nicolakis tells Neos Kosmos. “The whole Darwin community gets involved, all ethnic communities.”
Apart from locals, Mr Nicolakis says people travel from all over Northern Territory, as far as Alice Springs, but interstate visitors from Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and Perth also travel to the top end to take part.
“It’s our 25th year so we want to make it big and it’s going to be big,” he says.
Greek Australian comedian Effie will be entertaining the crowd with her multicultural humour, the Zorba Brothers will be there to entertain the crowds and Sydney Greek band The All Stars will have everyone up and dancing. Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer will be appearing for the kids. A fireworks celebration will cap off the night’s entertainment too.
“All the stalls are ready to go,” says Mr Nicolakis, “we’ve got 3000 kilograms of octopus the Kalymnian brotherhood organised.”
The Darwin Greek Glendi will take place on the weekend of Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 June at Bicentennial Park, The Esplanade, Darwin.