When Alexandra Dascarellos couldn’t make it to Melbourne’s Greek festivals because of her own makers markets, she decided to bring one home instead.
“If the mountain won’t go to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain,” she laughs.
“My markets in Barwon Heads and Portarlington are quality, successful events, they gave me the confidence to say, I can do this!”
That spark of determination became the driving force behind the first-ever Portarlington Greek Festival, set for Sunday 2 November, transforming the Bellarine Peninsula into a seaside celebration of Greek food, dance, and culture from 10am to 5pm.
With over 10,000 people expected, the festival promises something for everyone. Headliners Anagenisi will play live, alongside performances by Joanna’s Belly Dancing School, Pegasus Dance Academy, and Panagia Soumela’s Pontiac Group of traditional dancers.
The Bellarine Big Band will perform outside Parks Hall, while roving belly dancers and percussionist Achilles on the touberleki bring the streets to life.
Between acts, spontaneous dancing is not only welcome but inevitable, says Dascarellos.
Greek flavours will abound. Souvlaki, seafood platters, oysters shucked on the spot, loukoumades, and traditional cakes, plus drinks from Danny Doy Distillery.
Local makers will showcase handcrafted goods and jewellery, including Dascarellos’s own fine creations made using ancient Greek wire coiling techniques.
Entry is free, with donations encouraged; a quarter of proceeds will go to families of firefighters who died in Greece’s recent bushfires, which raged around Patras.
Even before the first note is played, talk of making the festival an annual event is spreading fast. “People are already asking when the next one will be,” says Dascarellos.
“Portarlington deserves this. The modern Greeks, we’re doctors, builders, teachers, artists, we’re proud Australians, proud Greeks. This festival celebrates that.”
And yes, she adds with a wink, “I might even dance to Rosa, my dad’s favourite song, on stage.”
For Dascarellos, the event is more than a community festival, it’s a love letter to her heritage and to her late father, Nicholas, and mother, Georgia, who migrated from Patra in 1953.
Nicholas, a wooden boat builder and fisherman, raised eight children while selling his catch from Portarlington and Swan Bay.
She’ll share his story in her opening speech, honouring his legacy through dance, song, and the very community spirit he embodied.
“When I went to Greece two years ago, people said my siblings and I were more Greek than the Greeks in Greece! Dad would be so proud.”
Bringing a major festival to the Bellarine wasn’t easy, it required courage, paperwork, and a few miracles.
“It was a bold move to submit the event application,” she admits. “The CEO of Bellarine Bayside, Mr Crabtree, said he’d approve it if I got two letters of support. So I went out and got them.”
One came from the Portarlington Business Development Association (PBDA), the other from the Portarlington Community Association (PCA). The turning point came when PBDA president Mark Williams, who had recently moved from Moonee Ponds, recognised the potential.
“Mark and his wife Katerina love Greece and Greek culture. He represented my festival to the committee and even spoke to the PCA. Thanks to them both, and Bellarine Bayside, my dream came true.”
Local traders, the Grand Portarlington Hotel’s general manager Greg Amor, and even the Portarlington ferry service have since thrown their support behind the event.
“Everyone’s been amazing. This is what community looks like,” says Dascarellos.
The Portarlington Greek Festival will run from 10am to 5pm on Sunday, 2 November, at W.G. Little Reserve and Parks Hall, Newcombe Street. Free entry; donations welcome.
