Dayton Greek Festival – Part I

Grilling the Gyros at the Dayton Greek Festival – Dayton Photographer Alex Sablan (click image to see full photo)

Every year on the weekend after Labor Day, the air around Grafton Hill is filled with the savory aromas of the Mediterranean. These emanations are all due to the annual Dayton Greek Festival.

About the Dayton Greek Festival

The festival is held every year at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church. It is located right next door to the Dayton Art Institute on Grafton Hill. The church is minutes from downtown Dayton and conveniently located right off of I-75.  The festival is held in the parking lot and also in the church’s hall.  Parking is available all around the church and shuttles are available from downtown.

So Many Choices – Dayton Photographer Alex Sablan (click image to see full photo)

Food at the Dayton Greek Festival

The choice one has to make at the Dayton Greek Festival concerning food is always a difficult one. Inside the hall, they offer a delicious lamb shank or chicken dinner. If you need to feed the pita monster in your belly, there are gyros offered both in the main tent and in the side tent. If you are not very ambitous with your pallete, Skyline has their greek chili generously offered on their coneys. But my favorites are in the main tent, Moussaka and Pastitsio. The main tent also offers greek salads, dolmades, and spanakopita. Of course there is an abundance of Greek pastries, including the baklava and loukoumades. But do not forget to save room for the baklava sundaes…mmmmmmm.

Pitas a Plenty – Dayton Photographer Alex Sablan (click image to see full photo)

About the Shoot

This year, I shot primarily with my Nikon D5000. I was experimenting with a prime to try to hone my eye to avoid zooming with the camera but more with my feet. It was mostly sunny but with big clouds that helped out every now and then. The biggest challenge for me was trying to avoid the huge white tops of the tents in the background. I really worked with the sides of the church or the stage but sometimes I just had to try to make it work when the tents were in a shot.

I hope you enjoyed part one. I will work on getting the next two parts up soon. I will have the costumed dancers and then some candids of the crowd dancing. If you have any questions about the shoot, just leave them in the comments below or you can DM on Twitter or you can always just leave me a message on Facebook.