A few years ago, we went to the Labor Day weekend Greek Fest at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in St. Louis city, and had a lot of fun. When I heard that there was going to be a St. Louis county Greek Fest at Assumption Greek Orthodox Church this weekend, I figured we should probably check it out, too.

There was a ton of food:

Music and dancers:

A market, which featured lots of jewelry:

My favorite part, though, as was the case last time, was the church tour. The presiding priest gave a lecture about the history of the Greek Orthodox church, as well as Assumption’s church building, and he did a fantastic job. Even though I was already familiar with the Greek Orthodox church, I learned a lot, and so did the children (the words “Ottoman Empire” came out of Ladybug’s mouth on the way home, which means not only was she listening today, she was listening in school when we studied history this year, too!).

The church is beautiful. There are many icons, as well as stained glass, a few mosaics, and a beautiful copper baptismal font.

The screen between the nave and the sanctuary is both beautiful and interesting. Jesus and Mary are on either side of the royal doors, and flanking them are John the Baptist and the icon for the saint of the church, which in this case, portrays the Assumption of Mary. The other two doors have icons of the archangels on them.

I think my favorite part of the whole church was this beautiful icon:

This is a really fun cultural event, where you can learn a bit of history, a lot about religion, and even about food. The St. Nicholas Greek Fest will be held again on Labor Day weekend, so if you don’t have time to visit Assumption this weekend, I highly recommend stopping by St. Nicholas at the end of the summer!