From "Women Together" to "Eressos Women's Festival"
In the year 2000 Sappho Travel organised the first women's festival in Skala Eressos. It was called "Women Together" and the festival was held on two separate dates, one was held in June of that year and one in September. Both festivals lasted one week.
Primary goal for organising a festival was to bring women together in Skala Eressos. The events were arranged for all women regardless of sexual orienation and most activities were also suitable for children. Activities included boat/barbeque trip, wining and dining, massage/reflexology, nightime swimming, scuba diving, picnics, sports, and lots lots more.
Organising the first festival proved to be challenging though. There was opposition from the local Mayor who believed that the office was bringing "undesirables" to the island. This opposition resulted in a television coverage on Greek National Television channel ANT1, and the Mayor's comment being discussed on CNN. The Mayor lost a lawsuit against the office and the commotion and publicity around the festival made the village of Skala Eressos and the Sappho Travel office instantly well-known throughout the world.
In 2001 the festival the festival was organised in September and it lasted 2 weeks. It was small, but succesful and became the start of an anual returning phenomenon in the Village of Skala Eressos. From 2002 to 2004 the festival grew in popularity and women seemed to be coming to Skala Eressos to specifically enjoy two weeks of being "Women Together".
In 2005, the festival was succesfully transformed into a more cultural happening, with an extra accent on the creativity of women and the Arts. It became the "Eressos Women's Festival 2005". For this festival Painter and Artist Katerina Litsardopoulou was asked to design the Eressos Women's Festival 2005 logo.
In 2006 Katerina created a new logo for the festival, based on the famous rock at the end of the 4km beach, and the festival again has grown in size and numbers of visitors.
Activities included many exhibitions, a variety of workshops, therapies and demonstrations. There were sports activities like the beach volleyball competition, the 5x5 soccer tournament, local walks and swimming to the rock out at sea. Many parties were organised all over town and there were several very successful live performances.
The icing on the cake was the participation of the entire women's community, consisting of creative and talented artists and women's businesses and enterprises in Skala Eressos.
We are very happy to have received the first committments for the upcoming festival 2007 again. You can read more on the upcoming festival and participants for 2007 here: Festival Program 2007
All pictures used on this page are from photographer Anjo Kan who was here during the festivals of 2005 and 2006. We hope it gives you an impression of what you can find here!
