Marlborough – Saints Anargyroi Greek Orthodox Church, located at 9 Central St., Marlborough, will hold its annual Labor Day Weekend Greek Festival, Sept. 1-3, featuring homemade Greek foods, pastries, Greek beers and wines and entertainment.
The festival has earned a reputation for their famous slow-cooked lamb shanks – the local Boston Greek Radio station says the festival is “Lamb Shank City.” The huge shanks are slow-cooked for eight hours and served with homemade Greek style green beans in a light tomato sauce and rice. All of the meats, including pork, chicken and lamb are all fresh, hand-cut and marinated in house. A la carte items include Spanakopita (spinach pie), Pastitsio (baked macaroni with three kinds of cheese), meatballs, roasted potatoes, stuffed grape leaves and Greek salad. The gyros are topped off with real Tzaziki sauce (a garlic cucumber yogurt sauce). There are also hot dogs cooked to order. For dessert, there are fried dough balls dipped in real honey syrup, the Baklava sundae, Greek pastries and the very popular frappe (Greek frothed iced coffee). Of course, there will also be Greek beer, wines, sangria, Ouzo, Retsina and Tsipouro.
Live Greek bands entertain on Saturday and Sunday nights until 11 p.m. Marlborough’s well-known Greek DJ George “Regas” Regan will provide entertainment throughout the weekend. Two different dance troupes, dressed in authentic costume, will perform over the weekend at 3 and 5 p.m.
Regularly scheduled church tours will provide an opportunity for visitors to understand how symbolism, icons and 2,000 years of tradition come together.
To accommodate the festival’s growth, there will be another tent down the middle of Central Street right next to the band. Admission is free and will be held rain or shine, with indoor and outdoor seating. There will be two ATMs on the premises.
