Greek history: Wilmington's Greek Fest has roots to immigrants who helped shape the city
From May 17-19, the Wilmington Greek Festival will return to the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church on South College Road for the 32nd time.
The festival, which started in the early '90s, is one of the longest-running annual events in Wilmington, with thousands of people showing up each year to eat Greek food and desserts, tour the church's relic-filled sanctuary and take in a little bit of Greek-American culture via live music and dancing.
What some might not know, even those who've been going to the festival for years, is that the festival grew out of a Greek community with deep roots in Wilmington, with some families arriving in the Port City more than 100 years ago.
According to the Hellenic American Project, more than 420,000 people immigrated from Greece to the United States between 1890 and 1921. An unknown number of those immigrants landed in Wilmington starting around the turn of the century. By 1910, however, the Port City had a chapter of the Pan-Hellenic Union, which helped organize members of the Greek Orthodox religion.
In 1918, according to Beverly Tetterton's 2005 book "Wilmington: Lost But Not Forgotten," there were 21 Greek businesses in Wilmington, including "12 confectionaries and six restaurants." In 1950, there were more than 60 restaurants downtown, about a third of them owned by Greek families.
Wilmington's best-known resident with Greek heritage is undoubtedly Mayor Bill Saffo, who has been in office since 2006 and became Wilmington's longest-serving mayor back in 2017. Saffo's grandfather, Vassilios, moved here with his family in 1903.
According to the stories he's heard, Saffo said, his family, which hails from the Greek island of Ikaria, near Turkey, wound up in Wilmington because it's on the ocean, and being on the water felt familiar.
"They came to Wilmington and fell in love with it," Saffo said.
In 1918 Saffo's grandfather and great uncle, Antonios, opened Saffo's restaurant at 219 N. Front St. In 1941, the restaurant would move to 249 N. Front St., the current location of Old Books on Front Street.
At one point in the mid-20th century, Saffo said, his grandparents on both sides of his family ran restaurants downtown: Saffo's on Front Street and The Boston Cafe, which was on Red Cross Street.
The Greek footprint in Wilmington's restaurant scene remains to this day, with the Olympia, Jimbo's, Chris's, White Front and others still run by Greek families. Most adapted to Southern palates while retaining some Greek fare, with Chris's menu famously serving up Southern staples like grits as well as dishes like souvlaki.
Basile Katsikis, a touring comedian who's been invovled with the festival from the start, grew up in New York and Cleveland, but came to Wilmington in the 1980s. His family ran the old City Market Cafe on South Front Street.
"You rarely see a really thin Greek," Katsikis joked. "We like to eat."
He said that, back in the day, most Greek children learned how to cook from both parents.
"We knew how to butcher meat," he said. "We knew how to clean fish."
Many used those skills to get jobs in restaurants, and eventually to open their own.
After the Atlantic Coast Line railroad left Wilmington in the early '60s it was devastating for the local economy. Some Greek families began to transition into other businesses.
According to Tetterton, in 1939 the late Mike Zezefellis opened The Crystal Restaurant at 26 N. Front St., in the building where I Love New York Pizza is today. Then, in 1962, according to Ray McAllister's book "Wrightsville Beach: The Luminous Island," Zezefellis closed the restaurant and bought a fishing pier on the south end of Wrightsville Beach. Formerly the Mira-Mar and the Luna, he changed the name to Crystal Pier, after the restaurant, and also rented apartments there. In the 1990s the spot was taken over the by Oceanic Restaurant, which remains there.
In 1966, Saffo said, Saffo's restaurant closed and his family later opened a motel on North Third Street called the Azalea Inn (some might remember "the famous Boucan Room" bar and event space there), which has since been torn town. His father, Doky Saffo, started Hanover Realty in the mid-1960s. When Anna Patsalos and her husband, Jim, opened Jimbo's restaurant in a former Toyota dealership on College Road in 1977, they bought it from Doky Saffo.
Born Vassilios Avgerinos Saffo, but always called Billy or Bill by his family, Saffo is a local through and through, having graduated from both Hoggard High School and the University of North Carolina Wilmington.
As a kid, Saffo's family went to St. Nicholas when it was on Second and Orange streets, in a 1945 building used by the Wilmington Children's Museum today. St. Nicholas moved to its current location in 1980.
"When I was growing up the church was very, very Greek. The liturgy was done in Greek," which it isn't anymore, Saffo said, and almost everyone at services was of Greek heritage. Now only about half are, he said.
"It's changed dramatically. Just like any other immigration story, you adapt to the American way of life," Saffo said. "But we do want to share our culture with the community. Our food, our religion, our dances. We are part of the community and are proud Americans."
Katsikis said the festival grew out of quarterly dinners the church used to have in the 1980s. He and another newbie to Wilmington at the time, the late John Sarris, remembered going to Greek festivals up north, and thought one could work here.
It was a success from the start, Katsikis said, grossing $80,000 the first year after he thought they'd be hard-pressed to hit $10,000.
The festival has always been "for the good of the church," Katsikis said, and "the whole church gets involved." But it's also been a good way to introduce Wilmington to some of its Greek history.
"They all want to be part of this fun we're having," he said. "This isn't just about us. It's about the whole community."
Want to go ?
When: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. May 17-18, noon-5 p.m. May 19
Where: St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 608 S. College Road, Wilmington
Info: Admission is $5, good for all three days. Free for ages 12 and under. Free parking in UNCW auxiliary lot behind Taco Bell, shuttle service provided.
Details: 910-392-4444 or StNicholasWilmington.org
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: When is the 2024 Greek Festival in Wilmington, NC? Local Greek history
