Local man celebrated for 20+ years of service to Greek Food Festival

B.O.S.S. Retirement Solutions is proud to sponsor the Treasure Valley Silver Awards

By: Idahonews.com

BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — The Greek Food Festival is one of the biggest cultural events in Boise and it wouldn’t be possible without the people who dedicate thousands of hours to get it set up each year. People, like Demetrios (Jim) Kinnas, who has run the festival for the last 23 years.

“It’s surreal, I mean, you’re always worried, ‘Are we going to get people?’ and every year sort of amazes me,” said Kinnas.

Kinnas has been volunteering for the Greek Food Festival since its creation 42 years ago. The annual event helps raise money for the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Boise.

“By the time our festival comes around, we need to be to be having a festival, so it keeps us running and that’s what got us started,” said Kinnas, who now serves at the president of the church.

Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Boise.

This will be the first year Kinnas does not run the festival, as his friend of 25 years and former co-chair, Loretta Constantinidis, takes over.

“Jim has been the key player for at least the last 20 plus years in the festival’s success. He’s so organized, he has so many relationships in the community that have just been instrumental to making those connections and partnerships,” said Constantinidis. “It’s made it so easy for me as the chair now because he’s set all of these things up. I feel like in a lot of ways, it’s kind of turn key.”

Demetrios (Jim) Kinnas and new Chair of the Greek Food Festival, Loretta Constantinidis

A big key to the festival’s success is their authentic Greek food, which Kinnas likes to help make when he can.

“I don’t skip, the food’s quality has got to be there,” said Kinnas. “The best compliment I had was people came up to me and said, ‘We waited in line for 45 minutes and it was worth every minute.’ That to me was all that had to be said.”

Photo Credit: Boise Greek Food Festival

The festival includes a variety of Greek food, drinks, desserts, music and culture.

“We have kebab, rice, beans, salads, you name it,” said Kinnas. “We’ll go through 7,000 gyros, maybe. I mean, we run a lot of people through here in two days.”

Photo Credit: Boise Greek Food Festival

Preparing to feed such a large amount of people is no easy feat.

“For all the prep work and the time volunteering during the day, it’s like 4,000 hours just to get it ready,” said Constantinidis.

Photo Credit: Boise Greek Food Festival

Getting ready for the Boise Greek Food Festival wouldn’t be possible without a lot of helping hands.

“They deserve this chair as much as anybody else,” said Kinnas. “I held the title but they’re the pillars, the ones that do the work. I mean, it doesn’t matter how well I organize, if they don’t perform their side, nothing works, so they deserve as much credit if not more than me, for sitting here talking about it. It’s all about them, they work so hard.”

Photo Credit: Boise Greek Food Festival

Although Kinnas is no longer the chair of the Greek Food Festival, he is filling his time as the new president of the church that the festival benefits. A church, that he holds near and dear to his heart.

“My parents were part of the co-founders of this church in 1950,” said Kinnas. “I was raised in this church and I was an altar boy. My brothers and sons were alter boys. My sons were born and baptized in this church. There’s a lot of history here.”

Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Boise.

Kinnas says about half of the money raised from the festival goes into the church and the other half gets distributed to local nonprofits like Life’s Kitchen, another cause close to Kinnas’s heart.

“I was on the board of directors for four years, they do all kinds of stuff for the festival, they cut the vegetables for the salads,” said Kinnas. “It’s been a great relationship.”

Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in downtown Boise.

Kinnas hopes you’ll come experience Greek culture at the 2024 Greek Food Festival. B.O.S.S. Retirement Solutions is happy to present the Treasure Valley Silver Awards to Kinnas for all that he has done in the Boise community! To learn more about the festival, click here.

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