The Wilmington Greek Festival is a weekend filled with great food and ways to learn about Greek culture. This year’s festival takes place May 17 to 19, 2024 at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church. Find out more details in this post.
For more help planning your trip, check out all our posts about Wilmington, NC.
It seems like every area has an annual Greek Festival. There’s a great one where we lived in New York, so I was excited when we moved to Wilmington and there’s one here. The annual event happens each May at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church.
It’s filled with authentic Greek food and highlights Greek culture, as most Greek fests do.
But, what’s different about the Wilmington Greek Festival is there’s a convenient drive thru component. That was added a few years ago and has stuck. You won’t be able to enjoy the live music or church tours that way, but you will be able to pick up some delicious food and bring it home.
Quick note: This is about the Wilmington Greek Festival in Wilmington, NC. There is the Holy Trinity Greek Festival at the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church (808 N Broom St) in Wilmington, DE. This is not about that festival.
The Wilmington Greek Festival is just one of the great festivals on the Port City. For more, check out A Guide To Festivals In Wilmington, NC and mark your calendar so you don’t miss anything this festival season.
Wilmington Greek Festival: Details And Full Schedule
The entirety of the Wilmington Greek Festival takes place at the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (608 S College Road). There’s a $5 admission charge for adults (kids under 12 are free) and that admission is valid all weekend long, so hang on to your ticket. You might have so much fun and you’ll want to go back later in the weekend.
There is limited handicap parking at the church itself, but there is also free parking at the UNCW Auxiliary Lot (behind Taco Bell) with a shuttle that brings you to and from the lot.
A few tents are set up in front of the church parking lot selling various food, like gyros, Greek salad, spanakopita (also known as Greek spinach pie), dolmathes (stuffed grape leaves), baklava, and more. My absolute favorite food item last year was the baklava ice cream — a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with honey and broken pieces of baklava.
Other tents selling Greek knickknacks and funny t-shirts (with sayings like “Everything Is Beta With Feta” and “Caution: Grills Hot, Workers Hotter”) are also set up. There’s a huge tent with tables and seats underneath, so you can get some shade while you enjoy your food.
Thank goodness for that tent because the festival is a rain or shine event, so you may need some covering because this weekend’s weather is supposed to be rain and thunderstorms on Friday and Saturday.
That large tent is also where the band sets up. This year, there will be performances by Lazaros, a band that plays popular and traditional music, and dancing. There’s a full dance floor and people do use that, so wear your dancing shoes. There are also dance performances at scheduled times (listed below).
Cooking demonstrations happen throughout the day, although there’s no set schedule for them listed on the festival website. Hopefully the information for that will be listed at the festival. We did include as much of the full festival schedule that’s available later on in the post.
What’s really great is the festival also benefits two local charities: Good Shepherd Center, a homeless shelter and soup kitchen (which Pete and I volunteered at for a few years) and Hawk’s Harvest, a food pantry for UNCW students.
Wilmington Greek Festival: Schedule of Events
Quick note: Food will be available all festival. You can see the menu ahead of time here.
Friday, May 17: 11 am to 10 pm
Church tours: 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm*, 5:30 pm, and 7:30 pm (* Byzantine Musical Performance)
Dance performances: 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm
Saturday, May 18: 11 am to 10 pm
Church tours: 1:30 pm, 3:30 pm*, 6:30 pm**, and 7:30 pm (* Byzantine Musical Performance, ** Evening Prayer Service)
Dance performances: 12:30 pm, 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm
Sunday, May 19: noon to 5 pm
Church tours: 1:30 pm and 3:30 pm
Dance performances: 12:30 pm and 2:30 pm
Wilmington Greek Festival Drive Thru Information
If you just want to pick up some food, you can use the drive-through option.
There’s a specific drive through menu that you order from while you’re in the car. Your food is then delivered to you. There’s no mobile app for the festival, so you can’t order ahead for curbside pickup service. You still have to drive to the festival for in person service.
Have you been to the Wilmington Greek Festival? Let us know what you thought in the comments.