North Miami Greek Festival 2025! Opa!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to frankly Speaking, your weekly destination for insight and
inspiration with your host, Frank Morangos. Frankly Speaking is sponsored
by Heppa four two one Chapter of North Miami in
partnership with the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of North Miami.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Welcome to Frankly Speaking. This is the weekly show that
is aimed to help make America Greek again. I am
not doctor Frank Morangos, Siam Brian Mudd here with you,
and it is an honor and a pleasure to have
the time. Frank is on assignment in kazakhs Stan this
week and we have an all star lineup for you today.

(00:47):
We've got the Greek Festival in North Miami that is
getting ready to take place next weekend, and we have
all of the right people to tell you all about him.
The twenty twenty five North Miami Greek Festival happens next
Friday through Sunday. That's November seventh through ninth at the
wonderful facilities for the Greek Annunciation Church of North Miami.

(01:13):
It's at one two two five zero Northwest Second Avenue
in North Miami and it's absolutely free. It is three
days of unforgettable food, fun, cultural experiences, a real immersive
experience and did I mention free And you can get
all the information right at Northmiami Greek Festival dot com.

(01:33):
That's North Miami Greek Festival dot com. In fact, you
can go ahead and sign up for your free ticket
there right now. So from authentic food, coffee, desserts, live
music and dancing, church tours, a Greek marketplace, raffles and prizes,
it is all there and a lot of folks work
to make this happen for you, and among them we

(01:54):
have the all star lineup. Three folks joining us today.
We have doctor Angelia Palios, who is a health science specialist.
She has worked for so long in neuroscience research. She's
worked with the Miami Veterans Medical Center. She's a science
health science specialist and also directs the religious education Ministry

(02:16):
of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church of North Miami or
extrectly with doctor Frank Marengos on that program. We are
welcoming right back to frankly speaking, someone who joined us
very early on in this season show, doctor Constantinos Sebakis,
who is the clinical Associate professor at the University of

(02:37):
Florida College of Medicine. He is the guy who's actually
from Miami, born and raised in Miami. He is the
president of the HEPA Chapter four to twenty one of
North Miami and a wealth of cultural expertise and knowledge.
And we are also joined today by one of the
world's pre eminent shipping experts. Now Greeks in bar is

(03:00):
one of the most important, not just historically but today
one of the most important roots and destinations for commerce
around the world the bulk shipping that takes place, and
Nicholas Monicadillos is joining us twenty five year veteran of
the maritime industry working with bulk carriers making sure that
goods get clear around the world, you know, from everywhere

(03:24):
in the Middle East to Asia to here in the
United States. It is an incredible feet and Nicholas, aside
from his incredible work in the maritime industry, is also
a parish council member of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church
in Miami and as well as the director of Nostos Incorporated,
nonprofit organization that works for Greek children and bringing them

(03:48):
into and keeping the culture alive in North Miami. Just
so many wonderful people here. Thank you all for taking
the time with us, and doctor Paleo's if we'll start
with you tell us a little bit about the Greek
festival from your perspective.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
Well, first, I'd like to thank you, thank you for
having me join you this afternoon.

Speaker 2 (04:07):
Brian, truly honor to have you.

Speaker 3 (04:11):
So every year we kick off right around the fall
where the first Greek Orthodox Church of Annunciation to kick
off our festival. And when you walk by, we have
stunny architecture, and the church with its Byzantine elements and

(04:31):
its blue hue dome looks like hey, I'm on a
Greek island feeling and truly during the festival, the courtyard
and the church grounds transform into a lively Greek village
and you have your guests and friends and family and
the neighbors, and they all experience this richness of Hellenic

(04:56):
heritage through the food, the music, the dance, and the food,
by the way, is authentic. There are a lot of people,
including myself, who work behind the scenes who make everything
from scratch, everything from delicious flaky desserts all the way

(05:18):
to the stuffed grape leaves, the dolmatos. As we say
and that's all behind the scenes, planned months in the
head to make this a success. As well as our
performance for the dance, there are very own Sunday School
students who come together with We have this amazing dance

(05:40):
instructor who has a lot of love for students and
has taught them a lot of folk dances that are
kind of inspiring. People who visit want to try their
hand at are steps learning the Greek dance sets, folklore
that is with our many truedditional colorful costumes, so really

(06:03):
you have a plethora of like the sounds, foods, the
music and dance and you really just feel like you're
in a Greek village.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
That is the first thing you explained is just the immersion.
And it is so true that with the Annunciation Greek
Orthodox Church, it is a setting that makes you feel
like you're in Greece. It does make you feel like you're,
you know, maybe on a Greek island. North Miami, a
beautiful setting unto itself, but the immersive experience of the

(06:34):
Greek festival, you really paint the picture. And what is
it that you don't do so when you're not treating
Alzheimer's disease, and leading the religious education ministry at the church.
You're also a Greek chef as well. That's impressive.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
I'm learning. I wouldn't necessarily call great chef, but Brian,
I'm learning. I'm trying to teach my own family and
give them a lot of what I grew up on,
which was cooking with love. We were a family always
in the kitchen, Our gatherings were in the kitchen, so

(07:09):
I was inspired to cook and basically learn those recipes
and pass them down to the next generation, so to speak.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
And now we all get to benefit from it. Coming
up with the North Miami Greek Festival Friday through Sunday
next week, and let's bring into the conversation here doctor
Constantino Sebachos, and you have joined us on frankly speaking,
welcome back. You're the president of the HEPA four to

(07:42):
twenty one chapter. As you are very immersed in the
culture yourself and very passionate about keeping Greek culture alive
and thriving in South Florida. Tell us a little bit
about the importance of the Greek Festival.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
Thank you again, Brian for having me on the show.
And I think the Greek Festival it allows us number
one to showcase the festival with our neighbors, our neighboring churches,
and it gives us an opportunity to share the Greek philoxenia,

(08:21):
which is a word that describes the Greek hospitality. The
Nunciation community. It's a very warm community, very embracing of others,
and we just really enjoy showing our culture and our
love for people. The festival has been going on since

(08:42):
the nineteen seventies and our church, the Denunciation Parish, has
been present since nineteen sixty five. So this December we're
going to be celebrating our sixty five, our sixtieth year anniversary.
Incredible and there's just so many people working behind this
ses with the food preparations, with the dance instructions for

(09:04):
the traditional folk dancing, and it's just a beautiful showcase
to display the faith, the traditions through our dance, through
our food, through our music, through our drinks, and we
always look forward to doing it each year. It's very
time consuming, it takes a lot of energy, but when

(09:27):
it's actually happening those three days, everyone is just so happy.
I have a smile on their face and we're like,
you know, it was well worth you know the efforts
that everyone put forward.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
I can tell you about the smiles on faces. If
you go to North Miami Greek Festival dot com, you're
going to see those smiles on faces. It is really
helps paint the picture in addition to getting you all
the information you need to be able to join for
free the North Miami Greek Festival this year. And I
don't know this to be the case, but I am
guessing that somebody who is such a legit gistical expert

(10:01):
is going to be playing a bit of an operations
role in all of this as well. We welcome in
Nicholas Moncadillo's I have so many questions about shipping that
I could ask you. Managing ball shipping around the world
is is quite the feat. Uh, So tell us a
little bit about the Greek Festival from your perspective.

Speaker 5 (10:18):
Sure, thanks for having me on uh and and thank
you for such a such a generous introduction. I hardly
call myself one of the preeminent shipping experts in Greek shipping,
but there's a there's a long list of people that
are that are much much more adept and much more

(10:39):
experience that than I am. But but I thank you,
and and I appreciate that you're humble the honors given well,
you know, and it's it's funny that you mentioned that this,
you know, the festival for us, you know, we we
like to showcase our culture, We like to showcase our
our food to the world where in many ways you know,

(11:02):
proud of of of who we are as a people,
and you know, and and specifically as the smaller of
the of the three main parishes of Greek Orthodox Churches.
Many but this is also you know, it's also a
lot of humility that takes place when we do this festival.
It's a it's a service. We're trying to do our

(11:22):
best to give back to the church in a way
that you know, through our hard work, through our love,
through our labor. We hope that you know, what we
express and what we give to the people that come
and visit us and get to know who we are
is appreciated. So no, I don't want to disappoint you.
But I'm not doing any special logistics work. I'm usually

(11:46):
cooking for black gas and helping out there on the
grill and and and bringing ice to whoever needs it
and uh and whatever else is needed. You know, it's
it's a it's really amazing, it's it's it's really an atmosphere.
And it's not just myself. Everyone else, doctors, lawyers, scientists,

(12:07):
you know a few of whom you have already on
the on the show with us. We all, you know,
we all exhibit our humility, and this is really our
way of showing that, you know, we're What we're trying
to do is get people to know who we are
and and humbly ask that you know, they participate in
our little festival that they see. You know, hopefully they

(12:30):
see the beauty that we see in our church and
some of them we love. That's you know, that's shared
between us as pirationers, and hopefully that comes out in
how we interact with them when they ability, We serve them,
how they see us dance, how they see us, uh
take care of them and greet them when they arrive.

(12:52):
So that that's what the festival is for us. It's
our it's our way of of you know, introducing ourselves
to our community for those who don't know us, and
of giving back a little bit in a humble way
for all the wonderful things that the church does for
us as an individually.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
Really well, said Benjulia. This isn't just for Greek members
of the church exclusively, is it?

Speaker 3 (13:21):
Absolutely not? So the beauty just touching upon what Nico mentioned,
we have the rich traditions of Greece certainly underscore the
importance of the cultural diversity at the festival, but it
does build a cohesive community. And what we're seeing in
our parish is we're very diverse, and the Greek Festival

(13:43):
only just add to bringing in local residents, neighbors and
even international visitors to partake of, you know, embrace our
orthodox space, our appreciation for Hellenism or Greek history or
if you will, and our customs. It really just serves

(14:04):
as a bridge connecting different cultures and us coexisting with them.
That's that's really it.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
From an outreach standpoint, how important is this event for
your church?

Speaker 3 (14:18):
Oh, that's a wonderful question. So we give back. It's
from an outreached point our Sunday school students as well
as the post which translates to friends of the poor
in Greek. And what we do is we we acknowledge

(14:38):
those people who are n't able to come to the church,
or who are elderly and are at a disadvantage for
attending services or the festival itself or other events, and
we go to them. We have the children visit them
the nursing homes or their own homes, and we sing
to them. We bring them food, We prepare food at

(14:59):
the church. Even on a regular basis, on a typical Sunday,
people come and they always share food. They either bring
from the store or they make themselves, and it's just
enough to go all around.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Constantinos, let's bring you into this aspect of the conversation.
I know from your leadership with the Hepa, you absolutely
want to bring as many people into the fold as
possible in the course of the calendar of the year.
Tell us about the Greek festival and its role in that.

Speaker 4 (15:39):
So, I think the Greek Festival in North Miami, it
helps to bring in parishioners from different communities, so from
different Orthodox culture communities. This could be Greek, Serbian, Romanian
and not just Orthodox, other individuals as well from the
local community. So I think gives us an opportunity to share,

(16:02):
to share our faith, our culture of faith. They get
to see the beauty of our Basilica, the Denunciation Church
in the hospitality, and I think through a Hepa and
the church, we try to promote education Hellenism, the Greek language,

(16:22):
and we share it. We try to share it freely
as much as we can. We offer Greek orthodox I'm sorry,
Greek language classes that I think with people that may
come to the festival, they may learn about and that
that helps to expand that may help to expand it.
But I think it's another avenue to share all the

(16:44):
wonderful things happening at the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Community of
North Miami.

Speaker 2 (16:48):
And I think it's also maybe something that cuts through
perhaps stereotypes. So let's talk about that a little bit
with Nicholas. So when people come to this festival, obviously
it's all about having a good time in a cultural way,
and you talk about kind of like the big tent
and people being able to see the other side that

(17:09):
it's not, you know, just all uh, you know, serious
Orthodoxy as important as the message of the church and
the faith as tell us about that.

Speaker 5 (17:20):
Yeah, you're right there, Brian, I know, we're we're lucky.
I think as a culture that people kind of associate
Greeks with having a good time, So that aspect I
don't think, you know, we we have a steep hill decline.
But you're right, you know, church services are very serious

(17:41):
and in Orthodoxy is you know, as serious as it gets,
as far as you know, being a Christian domination devoted
to Christ and devoted to the biblical teachings. But yes,
I think, you know, it's the beauty of the festival
is that it can serve as as as a gateway.

(18:03):
You know, maybe someone who's not so religiously in client
may common and it'll be an introduction to our culture
and oh, this is how we do, and this is
how we you know, this is a good food that
we eat, and these are the songs that that Greeks
dance to. And everyone's having a great time, and but
you know, we hope that some of that will also
lead into an appreciation of a substance behind it, you know,

(18:27):
behind just the good times and the laps, there's there's
there's a deeper sense of of we really are as
as as an Orthodox and you know, the beauty, like
Grosta mentioned, the beauty of our cathedral is another introduction.
You know, coming to your cathedral, it's beautiful actions a

(18:48):
rough cathedral, so it's a basilica, but yes, it is
very beautiful and it's very ornate becoming more interested in
Orthodoxy and participating in the liturgies. And we've had a
few Baptist lately actually of.

Speaker 6 (19:01):
People that have recently joined Orthodoxy.

Speaker 5 (19:04):
So I think that's probably the most valuable aspect of
anything that we do at the festival, you know, is
by showing people that yes, this is who we are
and we have a great time, they hopefully will gain
an interest into that other side of us, which is
the more spiritual and soulful side of who we are,

(19:24):
and that it's wide open. You don't have to be
Greek to become a member of our church, absolutely not.
You know that the love is there for anyone we
would like to join and learn about how we honor
our church and how we honor Christ and our biblical tradition.

Speaker 2 (19:41):
I think that's such an important point as well. How
many people want to go to Greece. How big of
a destination are so many of the Greek cities and islands,
And if you've not had an opportunity, or if you've
had and you love it to be able to have
that kind of an experience in North Miami is a treasure,

(20:03):
and to be able to come by the spirit of
Jesus Christ most certainly is as well. And so as
we take a look at the thought that each of
you have maybe your pitch for those who are on
the fence about attending, let's go around the horn here
and let's start with Evangelia. Tell us why people should

(20:27):
not miss the North Miami Greek Festival next weekend.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
Well, for one thing, all those who've been waiting around
to think their teeth into savory suvlaki or other dishes
or roasted lamb, they shouldn't miss out up because again
they would be missing out on traditions, they would be
missing out on the folklore, the music, the dancing of

(20:57):
the students. Students are very good, I might add, they
incorporate many different dances from different parts of Greece, not
just one main area, and they're very very interesting. It's entertaining.
It's very entertaining, and we also encourage our guests who

(21:19):
come at the end of their performances, they can also
join on the dance floor as well. So it's something
for everyone. It's something for the family. There's fun for
fun and games for the children, for the youth and
obviously for the adults. But adults have many stores to
do window shopping, to visit a marketplace and maybe buy

(21:43):
their own olive oil, their Greek olive oil. Maybe they'd
like to buy some jewelry that and we also have
many other vendors that they can look around. So it's
beautiful in that respect. We have craft, we have jewelry,
we have icons that any vendors come in sell, and
of course the food. But I'm missing a very important

(22:06):
key here, and that's the church itself. What do we
have to offer. Well, we have an amazing and a
very very amicable priest, Father Frank man Angos. I cannot
tell you how fortunate and blessed we are as a
community to have him. He makes Orthodoxy Christian Orthodoxy very

(22:28):
very easy to understand, and he always has You're walking
away at the end of services or even at the
end of the tour saying that, look, I've learned something today.
This is something I've never learned or read about. And
you always, you always learn something new from Father Frank.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
That is so, that is so incredibly true, you know.
Producing frankly speaking, one of my favorite things that I
look forward to each week. Is what I learned from Frank.
He is a wealth of information. He has an amazing
way with words and being able to communicate it. And yeah,
I couldn't I couldn't agree more.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
Absolutely, Brian, I couldn't have sent it better myself.

Speaker 2 (23:13):
So I am looking at the North Miami Greek Festival
dot com website. Here I do see the dancing that
is taking place, and I'm pretty sure that Cosa is
the the gentleman who is doing a flip, touching his
toe in the process. Is that you in that picture?

Speaker 4 (23:33):
No, Actually, I do do some Greek dancing, but that
would be called the figura, which is kind of like
a fancy move that certain dancers that do. And I
am not that inclined, I would have to say to.

Speaker 2 (23:53):
You or me, So tell us a little bit about
why you think people should not miss this opportunity, you.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Know, I think it's a it's a beautiful festival. There's
multiple that happened throughout the year in South Florida. We're
the first one. We're at a smaller scale, so I
think you'll definitely get to experience the warmth and to
communicate with many of the volunteers that are present and

(24:21):
it for whoever hasn't traveled to Greece. I truly feel
you'll get a taste of Greece. As doctor Vangelia mentioned
our church from the outside, it has the blue and
white feel. It makes you feel like you're in the
Greek islands. And we're going to have our dance group
that has been practicing for now multiple months, and at

(24:43):
the end of their performance each round, we get the
crowd involved, so they'll get to immerse themselves in the
calamba piano dance to name one. They'll get to see
that our beautiful basilica. And definitely our foods are all
freshly made. They're authentic and they our guests would definitely

(25:06):
appreciate the authentic traditional dishes. And there's many many tittries
from and for.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Our humble shipping experts. Nico, what's your pitch for us?

Speaker 5 (25:18):
Well, I'd say to everyone you know, don't miss out
come and have you will have a great time. We're
going to show you how Greeks have fun. You'll taste
our great foods. Like you said, you'll get a taste
of Greece there in North Miami. You'll try our foods
which were made with love. You'll hear Greek music, You'll
see Greek dan scene. You'll get a chance to shop

(25:40):
around and buy some some authentic Greek souvenirs inside the
marketplace and come from you know, for a weekend of
family fun and you know, if you're up for it,
come and look at a beautiful church. As I said,
have a tour with all.

Speaker 6 (26:00):
Frank, you will never forget it, and you might just
walk away with you know, your your heart uplifted by
the Holy Spirit and an interest in seeing you know,
what actually goes on on Sunday's Day and beautiful church.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
North Miami Greek Festival dot com that's the website. Northmiami
Greek Festival dot com has all the information you need.
Eleven until eleven next Friday, which is the seventh, eleven
until eleven on Saturday the eighth, and eleven until nine
on Sunday the ninth. Opah, enjoy yourself, have a great
time on behalf of Frank Marangos. I'm Brian Mudd, God

(26:36):
bless