Gyros, Loukoumades and Free Dance Lessons: The Springs Goes Greek Aug. 21

Free Greek dance lessons. On a Friday night. From strangers who will absolutely out-dance you and then hand you a plate of donut holes still warm from the fryer.

That is the pitch. And honestly, it is a good one.

The Colorado Springs Greek Festival runs Aug. 21 through 23 at Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church, 2215 Paseo Road, right at Monroe Street. A brand new 2026 Colorado festival guide, the kind of list that came out roughly a day ago, dropped this one right into the calendar with the dates. So this is happening, and the hours are real.

Here they are so you can plan around your weekend. Friday, Aug. 21, it is 5:00 to 10:00 PM. Saturday, Aug. 22, they go big, 11:00 AM all the way to 10:00 PM. Sunday, Aug. 23, it is a shorter runway, 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. So if you are the type who shows up late Sunday afternoon expecting a party, that is on you.

The food is the whole thing, let us be honest

Look, you are not driving to Paseo Road for the marketplace. You are coming for the gyros.

The menu reads like a greatest hits list. Gyros, obviously. Chicken souvlaki sandwiches. Lamb sandwiches, which they list as arni, so now you know the word. Spanakopita, that flaky spinach pie. Tiropitas, which is the cheese pie version, and if you ask me the tiropita is the underrated one every single time. Greek salad. Baklava. And the loukoumathes, the donut holes I mentioned, drenched in honey and doing serious damage to anyone with self-control issues (which is dangerous for me).

To drink, they have got beer, Greek wine, Greek coffee, and frappe. Greek coffee and a plate of baklava is a genuinely elite way to spend a Saturday afternoon in the Springs. I will die on that hill.

There is also a Greek marketplace with imported gifts if you want to bring something home that is not just a food coma.

Yes, they will teach you to dance. For free.

Here is the part people sleep on. The performances are one thing. Trained dancers, real costumes, the whole show. Those go down Saturday at 1:30 and 5:30 PM, and Sunday at 12:00 PM. Go watch. It is worth it.

But the free lessons are the actual move. They are teaching anybody who wanders over, no experience, no partner, no shame required. Friday you can jump in at 7:30 or 8:30 PM. Saturday there are three shots at it, 11:00 AM, 3:30 PM, and 7:30 PM. Sunday you get 12:30 and 2:00 PM.

So bring Hayley, bring your kids, bring the coworker who swears they cannot dance. Nobody is judging. Everybody is holding a napkin full of powdered sugar.

The part that actually matters

Now here is the thing that separates this from a generic food festival with a bounce house.

Archangel Michael is not some giant cathedral operation. It is a small, English-speaking, multi-ethnic Orthodox parish, and that word multi-ethnic is doing real work here. The members come from Greece, sure, but also Romania, Serbia, Russia, Bulgaria, and plenty of folks who were born right here in the U.S. All the services are conducted in English. So this is not a closed-door cultural club. It is a bunch of people from very different corners of the map who decided to build something together in Colorado Springs.

And they are literally building it. The parish has acquired 4925 List Drive, a multi-acre property with Pikes Peak sitting out to the west and cliffs to the east. That is where their permanent home is going. This is a real estate story too, if you know where to look. A congregation buying multiple acres in this market and putting up a permanent church is not nothing. Land in the Springs with a Pikes Peak view is not getting cheaper, and they went for it.

Here is the kicker. That new home is funded by parishioner pledges. So when you buy a gyro and a frappe and stumble through a dance lesson, you are not just funding a festival. You are throwing a couple bucks at a building fund for a church that a few hundred people are trying to will into existence under the mountain.

That is a good reason to eat baklava. I will take it.

If you go

The church is at 2215 Paseo Road at Monroe Street. That is the festival. The new property going up is over at 4925 List Drive, in case you want to drive by and see the view they are building toward.

Parish contact is (719) 634-5678, and everything lives at www.amgoc.org.

My advice. Go Saturday. It is the only day with the full 11 to 10 window, both dance performances, and three separate dance lessons. Show up hungry, hit the tiropita before the gyro line eats your afternoon, and stay for the 5:30 dancing.

Then go back Sunday for the loukoumathes you told yourself you would skip. You will not skip them. Nobody skips them.