Greek-American Families Shape Culture, Civic Life in Hernando County

Emily Thomas was eight years old when her father, Achilles, moved the family from Canada into the heart of Chicago's Greek community, chasing the kind of stability he had left Greece to find. Her biggest early challenge: learning English quickly enough to translate for her parents and sign checks for her father's auto repair shop, a responsibility that fell to her as the eldest child. By 1972, the family had made its third migration, settling in Florida, where Achilles opened another automotive business and Emily took over the bookkeeping and accounting. Her mother, Emily recalls fondly, "kept us all fed and happy."

That three-step journey, from Greece to Canada to Chicago to Hernando County, is a compact version of the broader Greek-American story: families pulled by economic ambition and held together by food, faith, and the gravitational pull of a tight-knit culture they carried with them at every stop.

A Parish as Community Cornerstone

The most visible institutional anchor for Hernando County's Greek-American community is Christ the Savior Greek Orthodox Church, located at 10401 Spring Hill Drive in Spring Hill. The congregation purchased its current property in 2018, converting a former church building and its adjacent house, the latter now serving as the residence for the parish's priest and his wife.

Father Lazarek, who has served in the Orthodox priesthood for 49 years, leads the congregation alongside his wife Diana, who holds the traditional title of Presbytera. Emily Thomas has served as Parish Council President, a role that places her at the intersection of the church's liturgical life and its deepening footprint in Hernando civic affairs. In 2023, the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce CEO Ashley Hofecker conducted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the church to mark its 10-year chamber membership, a milestone that reflects how thoroughly the parish has embedded itself in the county's business community.

Sunday services follow the traditional Orthodox rhythm: Orthros at 9:15 AM, the Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM, with Sunday School held after Communion. Liturgical texts are provided so that the full congregation, including those newer to the tradition, can participate in hymns and the laypeople's responses.

The Annual Greek Festival: Where the County Comes to the Table

Each winter, Christ the Savior hosts what has become one of Hernando County's most anticipated community gatherings: its Annual Greek Festival. The 12th edition was held in February 2024 on the church grounds, running across two full days with hours stretching from 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM on Saturday and 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Sunday. Admission, parking, and the kids zone are all free.

The festival's food is its centerpiece: spanakopita (spinach and feta pastry), dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with rice), fresh-made baklava, and a spread of salads and pastas that would not feel out of place in a Thessaloniki taverna. Live music, traditional Greek dance, and local vendors round out the programming. Proceeds from past festivals have been directed to the Hernando County Shrine Club, HPH Hospice, and the church itself.

The event has always drawn well beyond the parish's own membership. As one longtime organizer put it at an earlier festival, "We're a very small church and can't do it all by ourselves. We get so much support from the community and local merchants. This is a neighborhood event."

Philanthropy Woven into Parish Life

Service extends well past the festival calendar. The parish maintains a formal partnership with nearby Pine Grove Elementary School as its primary local philanthropic outreach, providing resources and support to students and families in the surrounding Spring Hill neighborhood. The congregation also financially supports a missionary working in Africa on behalf of the Orthodox Church, a commitment that connects a small Hernando parish to a global network of Orthodox communities.

Within the church, the Philoptochos Society, the Greek Orthodox women's philanthropic organization, meets on the last Thursday of every month. The group's regular gatherings focus on crafts and community fundraising, sustaining a calendar of giving that complements the parish's larger annual events. The church also holds barbecues, Taverna Nights, Easter dinners, and other social gatherings that keep the congregation connected across the liturgical year.

Greek Independence Day and Heritage Month

March carries particular weight for Hernando's Greek-American families. The month is recognized nationally as Greek-American Heritage Month, anchored by the commemoration of Greek Independence Day on March 25, which marks Greece's 1821 uprising against Ottoman rule. At Christ the Savior, the occasion is observed through religious services and community luncheons that draw both longtime parishioners and county residents who want to share in the celebration.

Emily Thomas, who visited Greece in 1983 with her son Achilles and found it "a beautiful, friendly, and safe place," describes a cultural sensibility that traveled intact across three continents: "The main difference between here and there is that they are more laid back than we are. They are strong on culture." That cultural tenacity, the insistence on preserving language, food, music, and faith across generations and geographies, is what the annual March observances are designed to reinforce.

How Greek Heritage Has Shaped Local Commerce

The Thomas family's pattern of building automotive businesses in each city they settled, work that Emily anchored administratively across decades, illustrates a broader truth about Greek-American economic life in Hernando County. Small, family-run businesses with deep community ties have been the predominant model: shops where the owner's children eventually manage the books, where the business is sustained as much by neighborhood relationships as by revenue.

The Greek Festival itself functions as a seasonal economic engine, drawing visitors from across the Tampa Bay region to Spring Hill, supporting vendors who sell Mediterranean food products and artisan goods, and generating traffic for the surrounding area. Cultural events, when rooted in a specific place and anchored by real people, become commerce.

5 Ways to Connect with Greek Heritage in Hernando This Year

• Attend the Annual Greek Festival at Christ the Savior Greek Orthodox Church (10401 Spring Hill Drive, Spring Hill). Free admission, free parking, kids zone, live music, authentic food, and local vendors. Check the church's calendar for the next date.

• Join Sunday Liturgy at Christ the Savior. Orthros begins at 9:15 AM, Divine Liturgy at 10:00 AM, Sunday School follows Communion. All are welcome; service texts are provided for full participation.

• Connect with the Philoptochos Society, which meets the last Thursday of every month at the church. The group welcomes new members and community supporters.

• Volunteer through Pine Grove Elementary outreach, the parish's primary local philanthropic partnership. Contact the church at 352-796-8482 to ask about current volunteer needs.

• Mark March 25 on your calendar each year for Greek Independence Day observances, including religious services and community luncheons hosted by the parish, where cultural music, food, and shared memory make heritage tangible rather than ceremonial.

Oral histories, family recipes, and photographs from Hernando's Greek-American families remain an underpreserved piece of the county's broader cultural record. Local history archives, library programming, and the church's own community events offer natural vehicles for collecting and sharing those stories before they are lost.