SACO — The St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church was quiet last Thursday morning, but the adjoining kitchen was alive with activity. Women who are a part of the Ladies of St. Fotini, a community group within the church, were hard at work preparing food for St. Demetrios’ upcoming Bazaar, a chance for Mainers in the area to purchase homemade Greek food and pastries.

That morning, the group was busy finishing up a batch of finikia, cookies soaked in honey syrup and sprinkled with walnuts.

“[Everything is] homemade … And some of them are authentic recipes of grandmother’s or great-grandmother’s,” said Paula Arabatzis, the wife of the church’s priest, Father Basil Arabatzis. She also goes by “presbytera” Paula, the Greek term for the priest’s wife. She said that Bazaar has been a yearly tradition for at least 30 years.

And it’s no small undertaking. To give a sense of scale, the women plan to make 350 dozen of just one cookie type — koulourakia, a Greek Easter cookie.

Vanja Sommerville, a member of the church and ladies group, said this is the first year that the Bazaar is fully back in person. In the last few years, Sommerville and others have prepared savory and sweet items for sale online, switching the Bazaar to a “to go” model. This year, the church will hold an in person Bazaar on the Nov. 18, with baked goods and Gyros for sale, a craft market, and more. Some frozen goods, will also available for online for prepurchase between Nov. 8 and Nov. 15. Online orders can be picked up at the church on the day of the Bazaar.

Somerville, who says that the Ladies of St. Fotini started preparing for the Bazaar in the second week of September, described it as both a community event and a fundraiser. Some of the proceeds from the food sales will go to the church, and some will go to local organizations like Hospice of Southern Maine or the charity Ronald MacDonald House.

Arabatzis estimated that 250 families are part of the church. “We have a lot of converts and we have a lot of people who grew up in the Orthodox church,” some of whom have had family attend the church stretching back generations, she said.

The Bazaar will be held in the hall of the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. To order goods online and find out more, go to stdemetriosofmaine.com.

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