LANCASTER, PA – The Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 64 Hershey Avenue in Lancaster, hosts its 62nd annual Greek Food Bazaar on Saturday, Nov. 7, 10:30 AM-7:30 PM, and Sunday, Nov. 8, 11 AM-6 PM, as a Drive-Thru event due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lancaster Online reported.

“We’ll have four drive-thru lanes,” Alexandra Schramm, a co-chair of the event, told Lancaster Online, “they will be right outside the back door, at the widest part of our parking lot.”

She continued, “We’re going to space two tents out, and then we’re going to have our ‘air traffic controllers’ guiding the traffic, funneling from two lanes to four lanes and back down to two lanes to exit. We’ll have pastry available both at the first two tents and then additional pastry at a (separate) tent at the bottom of the parking lot,” Lancaster Online reported.

“The menu is more limited than usual this year, with just one kind of souvlaki platter available, along with a smaller amount of some of the Greek desserts traditionally sold at the bazaar,” Lancaster Online reported.

“It’s definitely scaled down,” Schramm told Lancaster Online, “The items that we make are pretty labor intensive and require a lot of volunteers. And we can’t have all of those people (close together) and still have proper protocols [for COVID-19].”

The souvlaki platter includes one pork and one chicken souvlaki, rice, spanakopita, Greek salad, pita bread, and tzatziki, and costs $13 in advance or $15 at the event.

For those with a sweet tooth, kourambiedes, koulourakia, loukoumades, baklava, and rice pudding are available from $7-15 per container.

Schramm told Lancaster Online that “we also have online ordering … the first time this year, which we’re excited about.”

“The variety box will be different, because we couldn’t put every [pastry] that we typically put in, but I think everyone’s going to love it, because we’re putting in more of the stuff that everyone loves,” Schramm told Lancaster Online.

The community is also giving back through a new food program. “Given the hunger and the food insecurity that’s going on out there right now, we’ve started a program called Donate a Dinner,” Schramm said, Lancaster Online reported, adding that “those ordering food can donate online or at the drive-thru tents,” and “the church will match every $10 donated; the proceeds go to fund the church’s biweekly food box distribution program for those in need in the community.”

The Annunciation community turns 100 in 2021 and Schramm told Lancaster Online that “part of what we love is not only sharing our food every year, but also sharing our hospitality and our culture — with the dancing and giving people tours of the church — so it’s really touching all parts of the Greek Orthodox faith and culture.”

Though the drive-thru event is a new thing for the community, Schramm told Lancaster Online, “We hope people will support us.”

More information is available online:  https://www.annunciationorthodox.org/ and by phone: 717-394-1735.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/annunciationlancasterbazaar/.