The Greek Festival 2013
The Greek festival first began in Halifax in 1986 after Lillian Meletedis had attended a similar event in the US. It was brought up as an idea to then priest Father Elles and other community leaders in the Halifax community. The first Greek festival went beyond crowd expectations in the early summer of 86 which resulted in total depletion of food early on Sat. evening. The Greek community fused together and started preparing food in the late hours of Sat. night into early Sunday morning with the help of local Greek restaurants donating and preparing a lot of the food.My first experience going to the Greek festival was in the summer of 1991 as I attended it with a few of my Greek, Lebanese and Italian friends. Ever since, I have been a huge fan of the Greek Festival and try to get out every year to take part of this cultural experience. This year I took my camera along to capture a few moments from a brief visit this past Saturday.
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| This was a game to score on the goaltender and win a t-shirt. This boy and girl were only fooling around while the regular goaltender was on a short break. |
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| Greek School Dancers |
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| Greek School Dancers |
History of Greek Folk Dancing
"Greek folk dancing ties Greeks to their past and to their future. Greek folk dancing is very much an active art, both in Greece and throughout the world where Greeks have immigrated. Dancing is a vivid expression of everyday life and everyone of all ages dances at important occasions – weddings, baptisms, family celebrations and community social events."
( Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church )
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| Maria Panopalis helping the Greek School Dancers explain the history of Greek clothing attire. |
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| Preparing Greek Cuisine |
Hockey Night in Canada's
'Play On'
4 on 4
Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 15/13
A friend of mine had called me up early Sat. morning as I was getting ready to photograph at the Greek Festival. He told me about a 'Play On' tournament where 4 on 4 road hockey teams take on each other in a weekend tournament. Being a hockey fan, I was ashamed to say I had never heard of the tournament but thought I should be photographing this event as well. Below are some of the action I captured last weekend and here is a little history about the 'Play On' tournament.
"Play On! is a story of a small-town hockey fan who was passionate about the game and wanted to make a positive difference for the sport across this great nation. The concept was formed after he graduated from one of Canada’s most prestigious business schools and couldn’t find a job. Now, 10 years later, that same business school teaches the story of Play On! to all entrepreneurial students, reinforcing a message that anyone can fulfill their dreams if they just never quit." ( Playon.ca)
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| "Starting from a single tournament in Halifax, Nova Scotia back in 2003, Hockey Night in Canada’s Play On! has grown to 21 annual tournaments that take place from coast to coast across Canada. Now in it’s 10th season, over one million people have taken part in one of the 90+ events held to date." (theqmjhl.ca/article) |
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| "Hockey Night in Canada's Play On! tournaments feature hundreds of teams and thousands of participants and include separate divisions for both genders, all skill levels, and all ages." ( Playon.ca |
"Each year, the top Elite, Grinders(u19) and Enforcers(u17) teams from across Canada qualify to compete in the National Championship where teams have the chance to hoist the Redwood Cup and earn the title ‘Greatest Street Hockey Players’. At four feet tall and sixty-three pounds, the Redwood Cup is taller and heavier than the holiest of grails – the Stanley Cup." (www.moncton-wildcats.com)"
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| The Oval, Halifax Commons, Sat. May 15/2013 To buy this image, copy and paste in your browser; http://stevejessphotography.photoshelter.com/image/I0000zeyJQSSLXgQ |
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