Glenti to stay put for now, looks to relocate to Cenotaph are for 2021 festival

THE Greek Community has made a decision on whether it should relocate its wildly popular Glenti festival to a new location to accommodate for growing crowds

Michael Melas, Jack Korfias, Stavros Makrylos with the souvla at Glenti ... the popular festival will be held at its traditional location this year but organiers will look to move it next year. Picture: Katrina Bridgeford

GLENTI will remain at the same location on Bicentennial Park as it has for 30 years, pulling away from a move to the Cenotaph which would coincide with the Queen’s Birthday commemorations.

With both events held on the Saturday of the Queen's Birthday long weekend, on June 6, a stoush arose after the Glenti committee indicated that they wanted to move to the more spacious area where the Queen’s Birthday event is held.

But Glenti president Nick Poniris said the committee had decided to wait a year before trying to relocate to the Cenotaph, giving them more time to prepare.

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“I’ve sent an email and replied to the Lord Mayor advising we would not be pursuing the relocation for 2020 but we will be submitting an application for 2021 with plenty of time to get infrastructure in place to enable the event to be hosted with the minimum of disruptions and to be the start of bigger and better events,” he said.

“2021 is 200 years since the independence and freedom against the Ottoman Empire … while we can comply with everything to do with defence, exclusion zones et cetera, we thought it’d be appropriate if we start the new location with the anniversary with the end of the occupation of the Ottoman Empire.”

Mr Poniris said there was still a need for a larger area for the Greek festival to try to attract a growing attendance and would look to create a more inclusive event at the Cenotaph site.

“We’re looking to include Queen’s Birthday activities into the Glenti festival,” he said.

“My committee and I have had long consideration of Glenti and the future and how we can present the best possible event, not just for Territorians but all visitors to the Territory and to bring people up from down south.”

If Glenti had moved, the festival would have been put on hold during the 21-gun salute at midday on the Saturday.

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Earlier suggestions had been made that the Glenti festivities could be delayed until after the Queen’s Birthday event, which runs from 10am to 1pm.

At the time, Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis was not opposed to the move but said Glenti would have to abide by existing exclusion zones if they could do so without impeding on pre-existing commemorations.