Pelargochori August 6 Festival Celebrates Transfiguration of the Savior

In the village of Pelargochori (formerly Strkovo) in the Ploy Prespon area of Greece, a small 1591 church dedicated to the Transfiguration of the Savior (also identified as Saint Nicholas) hosts an annual festival on 6 August. The event draws the entire community and former residents from abroad, keeping alive the memory of the settlement.

The modest church, noted for its frescoes and interior iconography, bears an inscription naming priest Petko Martinos as its founder and an artist known as Nikola as the painter. The author, Stratos Vasilopoulos, recounts growing up in the village, the hardships of life before electricity, and the diaspora of families after the civil war, underscoring the festival’s role as a cultural anchor for the community.