THIS month is a special one for Brisbane's Greek community:the Paniyiri Greek Festival marks its 40th year on May 21-22, and organisers are pulling out all the stops.
This year's program will include the launch of the 40th Anniversary Paniyiri Cookbook, the inaugural Paniyiri Medals and the 40th Anniversary Retrospective.
More than 20 hours of entertainment will take place on the main stage, including the Hellenic Dancers, seven-year-old bouzouki prodigy Dimitri Kastrissios, Greek Dancing with the Stars, Zorba-Til-You-Drop, comedy nights, grape stomping, plate smashing and olive-eating.
And of course, the famous flavours of Greece will be shared, with Brisbane's favourite sweet, honeypuffs, or loukoumades, again making an appearance.
New additions to the program include Greek cooking master classes and comedy nights, the latter being particularly apt given that the special ambassador for the event will Australia's Athena-down-from-Olympus, comedian Effie Stephinides (aka Mary Coustas).
Over the years Paniyiri has grown to become Queensland's largest cultural festival - more than 60,000 people are expected to attend in 2016 - and the country's longest- running Greek festival.
In that time almost two million festival-goers have devoured more than five million honey puffs, four million souvlaki, 25 tonnes of haloumi, countless calamari and dolmades, and rivers of thick, sweet coffee.
Open Saturday, 12pm-10pm; Sunday, 10am-7pm. Admission is $10/$3/free.
Paniyiri Greek Festival, May 21-22, Musgrave Park, Edmondstone St, South Brisbane
