Jamie Groat seems pleasantly surprised if you correctly pronounce her Greek maiden name. "Not everybody gets that on first try," she says, laughing.
For the record, Fotioo (pronounced FOE-tee-oh) rolls melodically off the tongue. It's a name with deep Greek roots in Arkansas, just like the 34-year-old Hot Springs native.
Groat, who changed her name in 2014 when she married her longtime beau, Hendrix College head baseball coach Neil Groat, can check off a string of distinguished Greek family names among her relations -- such as Pappas, Stathakis and Polychron.
And that's not even counting Gianakopoulos -- the family branch of "Ohio Greek" cousins "who still come to Arkansas to participate in our family's weddings, baptisms, funerals, etc. and vice versa," she says.
"If you've ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, that is my and my family's life," Groat says.
And, yes, the Fotioo/Groat event was a big fat Greek wedding in Hot Springs, featuring dishes made by her mom, Janet Fotioo, and her aunts. They included tiropita, baklava and keftedes (rich layered pastries and meatballs).
The Rev. Nicholas Verdaris of Little Rock's Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church officiated.
Jamie and Neil met at Hendrix, where Jamie, a 2005 graduate of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, works in the Office of Employment & Graduate School Connections.
Before he was named head coach, Neil, a 2005 Hendrix graduate, was a baseball assistant and an assistant director of admissions and student recruiter.
Despite Hendrix's relatively small size, it took two years for the couple to cross paths. That was 2007. It also took Neil a while, but he finally popped the question to the self-admitted "cupcake addict" using a box of TracyCakes cupcakes that spelled out "Will you marry me?"
That led to the big fat extended family gathering in Hot Springs.
That Verdaris performed the ceremony was only fitting; Groat has a long history with Annunciation. She started attending the church when she moved to Little Rock after graduation and continued to commute once she moved to Conway a couple of years later.
Annunciation, the state's largest Greek Orthodox church, is the home of the hugely popular annual International Greek Food Festival, now in its 32nd year. The event at the church at 1100 Napa Valley Drive is 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday. Groat, the festival's communication chairman, has been credited along with festival director Jason Chacko with playing a major role in revamping the festival the past few years by bringing in new entertainment, menu items, charities and more.
"You can't stay the best by being the same," Groat says.
Last year, 30,000 people attended, yet the free event resists moving to a larger space. "It's important to us to keep the festival on church grounds," Groat says. "Part of it is letting people see the sanctuary and learn about the Orthodox faith and all the different ethnicities and nationalities that are represented.
"We overtake the parking lot with the booths and seating, so we're very fortunate that surrounding churches have allowed us to use their parking lots. And of course we have the [free] trolleys picking people up from some of the lots that are farther away."
As usual, the booths will be a gourmand's gastronomical delight.
"There's an appetizer booth with finger foods," Groat says. "Then we have the Greek chicken, the gyros and kebabs booths and the loukoumathes booth."
Groat suggests visitors start with the appetizers "and work your way around to the ice cream sundaes or the loukoumathes," which are fried dough balls doused in honey and powdered with cinnamon.
In the church's ballroom, "a huge" indoor market will be set up near the ever-popular pastry booths.
"Last year we sold out of our baklava by lunchtime Saturday," Groat says. "This year, we're baking more in hopes of avoiding that problem."
Inside, church tours will be available, and outside will be bounce houses, crafts, face painting and rides for the kids.
How popular is the annual three-day event? In its 31 years, the festival has donated almost $1.5 million to more than 30 charities throughout central Arkansas. Check the website for details on this year's seven benefiting charities, each of which has furnished volunteers for the weekend.
Bottom line: The family-friendly festival is a labor of faith and love.
"The preparation has been going on practically since the last one ended," Groat says. "It's not just a weekend event for us. We've been cooking the pastries and preparing the food for months.
"This is something that we put our hearts and souls into and we're proud to be able to show the community the hard work that we do and what the Orthodox faith is about, what its people are about."
Finally, many festivalgoers decide not to fight the temptation and simply ignore their diets for the three days. But one wonders how Groat can enjoy all these tempting dishes year-round and remain so thin.
"Well," Groat says, laughing, "my Lent just ended and I've been without meat for six weeks. That maybe accounts for that."
Find the menu, entertainment schedule and trolley information at greekfoodfest.com.
High Profile on 05/15/2016