DANBURY, Connecticut – When the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church started hosting a community festival in 1979, it was a small event in the backyard of their converted Victorian house on Fairview Avenue, News Times reports.

“A few people sat around a kitchen table one day and said, ‘We need to do this,’” Anna Koulouris, a secretary of the church’s parish council, said to News Times. “A lot of people had no understanding of what Greek culture was. Then, all of a sudden, Danbury fell in love with Greek.”

“A few years later, the parish moved the festival to its new, larger location on Clapboard Ridge Road, and it has been growing ever since. Koulouris estimates thousands of people come each year, from across Connecticut and New York, for the weekend event.”