Traditional food and dancing is the order of the day at the 30th annual Greek Festival in Camarillo this weekend.

The festival, which continues today, is the culmination of months of preparation by St. Demetrios Orthodox Church members who want to share their heritage and raise money to build a new facility on Santa Rosa Road.

The festival is at the church's current location, 400 Skyway Drive, which is at Camarillo Airport.

Katherine Pappas has been in charge of running the pastry booth for the festival the past 20 years, and she and her group of 15 ladies have been busy baking baklava; kourabiedes, a type of butter cookie; and other sweet treats to tempt festivalgoers.

"Everything is homemade," she said. "It's very important because we make the most money for building a new church with the festival."

Deion Gerhard and her 16-month-old son, Xander, whose dad is Greek, traveled from Ojai to visit the festival and enjoyed sampling the spanakopita, or spinach pie.

"I like the food, and we're having fun," she said. "My husband's family is very strong with their heritage, and it's interesting to see other people doing it, too."

Other traditional food offered included keftethes, or Greek meatballs; loukanico, or Greek sausage; moussaka; roast chicken and lamb; gyros; tzatziki; and kalamata olives.

"My brother is married to somebody who's Greek, and I love the family portion of it and the feeling of family here," said Ron McBryde of Ventura, who was biting into calamari and waiting to watch his nephew perform with one of the dance troupes.

For the first time this year, a Greek Orthodox wedding was held as part of the festival and a young couple tied the knot on Saturday evening in a traditional ceremony.

George Joannou, the parish council president at St. Demetrios, said it was suggested by the bride and groom.

"They thought it would be a pretty cool idea to open up their wedding to the public, and they came to us with the idea," Joannou said.

Dennis Valianos, 39, a registered nurse from Ventura, came with his 4-year-old daughter, Alexandra, and said events like the Greek festival help foster greater understanding between communities.

"It's fabulous to support the culture and celebrate it, and to see it being passed on to my daughter is very encouraging," he said.

"There's this word kefi,'" said Jennifer Hiltabiddle who, with her husband, Tom, had a great time dancing to the distinctive sounds of bouzouki music. "It's a Greek word that essentially means the feeling that you get when you radiate happiness, and that's what you get here."