The baklava is ready for basting. The church kitchen is bustling with the clatter of pans. Upstairs, in the quiet of the sanctuary, the icons patiently await a stream of visitors.

And so it's been for five decades at Lancaster's Annunciation Orthodox Church, where generations of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, grandchildren, aunts, uncles and cousins have labored to make the congregation's Greek Food Bazaar a local tradition. This year, Annunciation's festival marks its golden anniversary.

"The history of it, and seeing the younger people come in … Something gets passed on," summed up parishioner Helen Hazatones.

Indeed, for 50 years, the festival has raised money for local charities and has fed tens of thousands of food-lovers — not all of them Greek. Packing the church on Hershey Avenue, visitors, every November, eat and take home such treats as yiaprakia, pastitso, tiropita and, of course, baklava.

The names are exotic. The flavors are down-home, Hellenic-style. This year's golden anniversary festival, to be held Saturday, Nov. 1, and Sunday, Nov. 2, promises to be no different.

That includes the guest list, which, over the two-day marathon event, typically tops 10,000. Folks come from Lancaster, Lebanon, Baltimore, Harrisburg and Reading, said parishioner Barbara Valavanes. Other statistics tell the story: 25,000 pastries, 150 gallons of pastry syrup, 350 pounds of cheese, 35 gallons of olives and 25,000 grape leaves, picked in June.

But the most important numbers of all? The ages of those who make it happen, "from 6 to 96," said Valavanes. "There's no generation gap here ... our mothers, we, our children, our grandchildren."

A tradition that reaches across generations started humbly, but planted the seeds for what would become Annunciation's Herculean effort.

Many years ago, Valavanes recalled, Eugenia Theros was invited by a non-Greek friend, Myrtle Wiley, to attend a bazaar at Wiley's own church.

"[Theros] was very impressed by what she saw," and was excited by the idea of having such an event at Annunciation, then housed in a former Methodist church at 215 S. Queen St.

Theros was a neighbor of Valavanes. She approached her and said, " 'Barbara, how I am going to present this?' " Valavanes recalled.

"I went to the Philoptochos Society" — then a native-Greek women's charitable group in the church — "and explained it to them. They were overwhelmed just hearing it." Valavanes said she "offered the logistics" to another ladies group, the first-generation Greek-American Daughters of Penelope, telling them that "all they had to do was cook. That was fine with them."

Because their church, at the time, was too small to host such an ambitious undertaking (the current church opened in 1959), that first bazaar in 1958 was held at the Stahr Armory on North Queen Street. In those early years, bazaar food was made in homes and at the old Garden Spot Restaurant downtown; the first event even featured submarine sandwiches from Speed's, still a popular city spot. Food ran out at the original bazaar — and the ladies promptly made more.

"That happened a lot, especially [with the] pastry," said Kanella Voulopos, daughter of Eugenia Theros. "Today, when we run out of it, it's done!"

Men, too, have long been a part of running the show. Missed and remembered this 50th year are Gust Diamantoni, longtime chairman of the festival's takeout division who died last year, and Arthur Moshos, who had been with the bazaar since the beginning. He died just before the 2006 festival.

Bazaar chairman Kosta Kontanis noted that history will be acknowledged with close to 100 pictures and newspaper clippings, hung mobile-style from overhead. As patrons line up for food, "they'll be able to see images from the past," Kontanis said. Posters of former bazaars will vie with new pictures of modern Greece in the church hall.

But it's the food that will — as always — take center stage. Little-changed over the years is the bazaar's main dinner platter: pastitso (beef and macaroni with cream sauce), Greek-style chicken, yiaprakia (stuffed grape leaves) and Greek salad with feta cheese and a roll.

A la carte service will be available; new this year is the addition of souvlaki, (chicken or pork shish kebab) to the menu. Of course, no Greek Food Bazaar would be complete without Annunciation's pastry selection, including the famous baklava.

As always, Greek music and folk dancing will round out the bazaar, along with sales of jewelry from Greece, books, religious items and gourmet selections. Tours of the sanctuary, noted for its Orthodox icons, will also be offered.

"As I get involved, I make a point to go around and ask people ... 'what makes you come to the festival every year?' " said Kontanis, noting there are many who make the trek to Annunciation an annual family pilgrimage. He spoke of one man last year who was diagnosed with a brain tumor; Kontanis was told that "he wouldn't miss this for anything.

"When you hear stories like that," Kontanis said, "it's impressive."

So, too, the 50th year of tradition. Publicity chairwoman Dorothy Francos said she knows people who first visited the festival as babies. Now, she said, "the babies are coming with their babies!"

The following recipes are longtime favorites at the Annunciation Orthodox Church Greek Food Bazaar:

BAKLAVA
¾ pound melted butter, approximately

1 pound pastry sheets

4 cups English walnuts, ground

Cinnamon, to taste

Using a 13-by-9-by-2-inch pan, brush butter generously on bottom and sides of pan. Cut pastry sheets to size of pan or let excess hang over sides of pan. Place a sheet of pastry on bottom of pan and butter generously. Continue to add pastry sheets, brushing each sheet generously with butter, until 6 to 8 sheets have been used to make a thick bottom layer.

Sprinkle nuts rather generously over the top of that layer and sprinkle a bit a cinnamon over the nuts. Add 2 pastry sheets over mixture, brushing EACH sheet with butter. Sprinkle with nuts and cinnamon again, as above. Repeat this until all nuts have been used and finish by using 6 to 8 sheets of pastry, again brushing each sheet with butter.

If you have allowed your pastry sheets to hang over, cut off at top of pan and roll ends under to seal. Brush entire top sheet very generously with butter.

Using the point of a very sharp knife, cut down through baklava TO bottom layer but NOT THROUGH bottom layer to form the desired size of diamond-shaped pieces.

Bake in 300-degree oven for 1 to 1½ hours or until golden brown. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool completely on a rack.

Pour hot syrup (see recipe below) over entire area of cooled baklava and let stand for a few hours, allowing syrup to penetrate thoroughly. Do not cover until baklava completely cools again.

Syrup:
4 cups sugar

2 cups water

2 teaspoons lemon juice

Small piece of cinnamon stick (optional)

Honey, to taste

Bring sugar, water and lemon juice to a boil. If desired, add small piece of cinnamon stick. Cook about 10 minutes over medium heat. Remove from heat and add several tablespoons of honey, stirring well to dissolve.

After the syrup is poured and the baklava cools, finish diamond-shaped cuts all the way through and serve.

GREEK STYLE BAKED CHICKEN WITH TOMATO SAUCE
2½ to 3 pounds chicken cut into pieces

Juice of ½ lemon

2 cups water

Softened butter, as needed

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ teaspoon oregano

Tomato sauce (see recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Wipe chicken pieces with damp cloth. Arrange in baking dish, skin side up. Squeeze lemon juice into water and pour over chicken. Brush chicken with softened butter and season with salt, pepper and oregano.

Bake about 1 hour until tender. For a more crispy skin, place pan under broiler briefly after baking. Serve with tomato sauce.

Tomato Sauce:
2 tablespoons chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons chopped green pepper

1 rib celery, chopped

3 to 4 tablespoons butter

1 cup chicken stock

1 (1-pound) can chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

½ teaspoon oregano

Salt and pepper, to taste

½ teaspoon sugar

1 small can mushrooms, sautéed (optional)

In a heavy pot, sauté onion, garlic, green pepper and celery in butter for about 3 minutes. Add chicken stock, tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, salt, pepper and sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer about 1 hour, covered. Stir occasionally. Uncover, increase heat and reduce sauce, stirring frequently. Add sautéed mushrooms to sauce, if desired.

The 50th annual Greek Food Bazaar will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1, and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, at Annunciation Orthodox Church, 64 Hershey Ave. Prices are $9 in advance for the traditional platter; $10 at the door. A la carte and drive-through service are available. Call the church, 394-1735.