sea you there

Mediterranean food and dance festival shimmies into downtown Austin

St. Elias Mediterranean Festival Austin volunteers

The St. Elias Mediterranean Festival celebrates Greek, Lebanese, Eritrean, Syrian, and more cultures at a downtown Austin church.

Photo courtesy of the St. Elias Mediterranean Festival

Temps in Austin have finally dropped to the agreeable high 80s and low 90s — what is this, the Mediterranean? Not quite, but that's not stopping the folks at the 89th annual St. Elias Mediterranean Festival (MedFest) from having a great time.

Austinites can stop by the St. Elias Orthodox Church downtown (408 E. 11th St.) on September 29 and 30 for food, wine, dancing, and crafts, all staffed by local Austinites. The long-running festival is sponsored by Twin Liquors, a locally owned store that is popular statewide, and that has had family ties to the festival since its first year in 1934.

“MedFest is more than a tradition for our family, it’s ingrained in our culture,” said President of Twin Liquors David Jabour in a press release. “We are honored to continue to play a role in the festivities this year, and look forward to seeing friends and families celebrate with delicious food, cocktails, music, and dancing.”

It may sound familiar to the Greek Festival held in April, but MedFest is much closer to most Austinites, and is smaller in festival area but much larger in scope; although it will offer some Greek treats, it will also tie culture from Italy, Lebanon, Palestine, Eritrea, and even Russia, among other countries.

The main draw is the food, served up by volunteers and cooked by families and Austin businesses. Last year, Gelato Paradiso brought a delicious stracciatella, and the group manning one booth shrugged off questions about where the fantastic hummus had come from — eventually, they tracked down the maker, who had just whipped it up in their home kitchen without fanfare.

But the dancing is what makes it a party. After a day of food, artesan shopping, and performances, the DJ played Arabic dance tracks and other crowd favorites into the night. People formed dabke lines, moved with jangly hip scarves, and otherwise danced into a Mediterranean state of mind.

The 89th annual St. Elias Mediterranean Festival will be held from 6 pm to 11 pm on Friday, September 29, and from noon to 11 pm on Saturday, September 30. Tickets ($5 donation) will be available at the door. Kids 10 and under and college students with IDs enter free at any time; Admission is free for all on Saturday from noon to 4 pm.

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Keeping The Lights On?

ERCOT meteorologist predicts higher chance of extreme cold this winter

Photo courtesy of KVUE

ERCOT says it has improved its reliability, but other Texans aren't sure it's enough.

The lead meteorologist for the state’s power grid operator, ERCOT, is predicting both a warmer winter and a higher chance of extreme cold.

During a Tuesday board meeting, Chris Coleman said current climate patterns are very similar to those in 2021 when a winter storm knocked out power for millions of Texans for several days.

“Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to have [Winter Storm] Uri, but it does again say that we’re in a pattern that supports something like a Uri this winter,” said Coleman, ERCOT's supervisor of operational forecasting.

Coleman compared his winter forecast to a tornado watch: The conditions are there, but the storm may or may not happen.

ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told KVUE on November 25 that he doesn’t expect calls for conservation or rolling blackouts.

“We're ready for those kinds of conditions at ERCOT,” said Vegas.

During Tuesday’s board meeting, Vegas touted nearly 3,000 weatherization inspections since 2021 and more than 10,000 megawatts of new generation added to the grid since March, mostly solar and battery storage. ERCOT estimates 1 megawatt can power 250 homes on average during peak winter demand.

However, Texas energy consultant Doug Lewin questions that math.

“[We are] better off than we were in February 2021 but not out of the woods,” said Lewin, who authors the Texas Energy and Power Hour newsletter and hosts the Energy Capital podcast. “We don’t have a system that’s resilient enough to deal with a Winter Storm Uri.”

Lewin points to two main reasons: a natural gas supply system he says is not adequately winterized, along with inefficient homes and buildings that push demand beyond supply.

“We have to bring that demand down and do that by increasing the programs we have for energy efficiency to replace inefficient heat with much more efficient forms of heat, like heat pumps.”

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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