Plate smashing, a minotaur maze, Greek games, theatrical characters, and much more were available to attendees of the city’s fourth installment of its “Celebrate” series on Friday at the Canyon Country Community Center.
Akin to the event’s earlier installments, games, arts, activities, food, and music were all Greek-themed and had signs with detailed information about the history and context of what each thing was based on.
Casey Miller, event organizer for the city of Santa Clarita, said she’s been very happy with the way the whole series has turned out.
“It’s been a lot of fun celebrating a different culture each month. We’ve noticed that a different community group kind of comes out and represents their own culture. So it’s great to see that ownership within our community,” said Miller. “For people that may not identify with that culture, they’re able to kind of become immersed in that community.”
This month’s event was done in collaboration with Eclipse Theatre LA, which provided costumed characters to add ambience and immersion. One actor, Phil Lantis, costumed as Menelaus, the king of Sparta, said while it’s nice for people to come out and learn about Greek culture, what’s great about the “Celebrate” series is that it educates people about many different cultures.
“This whole ‘Celebrate’ series was founded to share the culture of our community and let people know about a lot of different cultures, entertainment, fun and activities,” said Lantis. “Greece in particular, you know, one of the founding things of Western civilization … a lot of our traditions and kind of thoughts about how to do politics and some of those other things came from ancient Greece.”
Miller elaborated on this by saying the whole point of the series is so that people and their families in Santa Clarita can learn about something they’re not usually exposed to while having fun at the same time.
“I think the biggest thing that we’re hoping the community takes away from the event is that they learn something new about a culture that they maybe didn’t know before,” said Miller. “So we’re really hoping that they have a great time at the event and also again, they’re more in tune with the world around them in the cultures that we have here in the city of Santa Clarita.”
Anthony Sandoval, 8, wears his Greek laurel wreath that he made at one of the activity booths during the City of Santa Clarita “Celebrate” Greek themed event held at the Canyon Country Community Center in Canyon Country on Friday, 070122. Dan Watson/The Signal Attendees line up for traditional Greek food such as, octopus salad, fish ceviche and goat ribs grilled at the Calamaki food booth during the City of Santa Clarita “Celebrate” Greek themed event held at the Canyon Country Community Center in Canyon Country on Friday, 070122. Dan Watson/The Signal
