Tampa Greek Festival is a cultural celebration offering tasty Mediterranean cuisine

TAMPA, Fla. - Opa! The Tampa Greek Festival is here, along with some delicious, authentic cuisine.

The festival is one of Hillsborough County's oldest cultural celebrations, running for over 30 years. One of the highlights of the festival is the freshly prepared Mediterranean-style food, including homemade dolmades.

"Dolmades are actually stuffed grape leaves, it's a big task because we make about 10,000 because we have a lot of people," said Mary Neos, a member of Tampa's St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church. 

She says it takes a lot of hours and volunteers to make the tasty dish.

"It includes ground beef, rice, a lot of spices like dill and parsley, a lot of tomato sauce, onions, lemon juice and olive oil," Nenos explained. The filling is then hand-rolled in fresh grape leaves and baked in the oven. 

Other crowd favorites at the festival include gyros, baklava and Greek meatballs.

The Tampa Greek Festival runs through Sunday, Nov. 10 at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in South Tampa. General admission starts at $2.00 with children and military members getting in for free.