Florida Festivals

One thing that we have noticed since we moved to Florida is all of the festivals.  It seems like there's at least one every week in our area and sometimes many more.  They aren't always in Ocala, but almost all are within driving distance.  We have tried a few since the fall.  Some have been great while others have been a bust.  When we didn't have any set plans this weekend, Doug asked to see the list of local events that I had found on the Ocala city website.  There were actually quite a few to chose from on the list.

The first one that we talked about was Swamp Fest at Swamp Head Brewery celebrating their sixteen years in business.  It looked tempting, but we knew that it would be packed with very limited parking.  We decided to pass on that one.  The next one had a theme that seemed to be in abundance around here - Strawberry Festival.  Both Doug and I were allergic to the fruit and all of those theme festivals looked like a county fair.  Thus, we decided to pass on any with strawberry in the title.  The one that caught both of our eyes was the Greek Festival at a Greek Orthodox Church in Belleview.  

We weren't sure what to expect when we pulled into the church twenty minutes from our home.  There were already a lot of cars parked in the grass outside of the church with a big bouncy house and a tent in the backyard.  The church hall was full of tables and vendors selling jewelry, crafts and antiques.  There was a band playing Greek music and the cafeteria was serving traditional Greek food.  Doug picked out a Greek beer to try before we headed outside to check out that area as well.  We each found some food to try - a Gyro for Doug and a Splolaita for me.  We also learned about two other Greek drinks, Ouzo and Mextaca, but didn't try either of those.  We ate inside and listened to the music.  While we were eating, the guitarist jumped up on a table and started playing.  It was really neat to see him do that and we both enjoyed it very much, although Doug was positive that the table was going to tip over.  Thankfully, it did not and we stayed for awhile once the band was finished doing a little bit of shopping.  I found a really beautiful dragonfly necklace to bring home.  It was a fun way to spend an afternoon and I was thankful that we tried it.