The scene inside the Church of the Annunciation’s Mihailides Center last Wednesday night was almost as old as the Greek Orthodox parish once based in Providence.

In one area of the spacious Demetrakas Hall, more than two-dozen women sat in chairs at long banquet tables performing such tasks as making and rolling dough in several different shapes during yet another of the parish’s “Baking Nights” that have been held for many years.

Meanwhile, a smaller group of women were quietly going about their job of spreading white confectionary sugar over items called Kourabiethes, while others were making sure every “Greek goodie” was packaged properly.

In the middle of it all was Mariane Phelan, a longtime parishioner at Church of the Annunciation, who is chairing the fourth annual Greek Food Fair that the Cranston-based parish will host this weekend – Saturday and Sunday, May 3-4 – inside the Mihailides Center at 175 Oaklawn Ave.

Although those scenes were like carbon copies of “Baking Nights” of old, last week’s scene was – as Phelan and people like Elaine Crabtree offered – really a special and silent statement that the Church of the Annunciation will be able to carry on its terrific tradition of this weekend’s food fast and its long-standing Cranston Greek Festival held every September on the church grounds in Cranston.

“There are a lot of new faces here tonight,” Crabtree offered. “Marianne has done a great job recruiting some new people for our baking nights.”

Phelan has helped expand the parish’s workforce, which she said includes “sons and daughters of our older members who are stepping up to the plate to continue the tradition of cooking and making Greek food and pastry.”

Phelan, who has teamed with her husband and parish council president Kevin Phelan and former president Theofanis Markos to chair this weekend’s ambitious undertaking, said, “It’s rewarding seeing these new faces and knowing that our traditions will be passed down through generations to come.”

And as Phelan explained last Wednesday night, “everybody has a different job that they’re comfortable with, and that helps us pull everything together.”

Her husband, for example, was a “runner,” and he carried trays of freshly made dough that would wind up as another Greek cookie, or Koulourakia. Kevin Phelan brought those trays into the kitchen, where Anthony George and Stephen Sterpis were waiting to cover each piece with butter.

From there, the trays were passed to Guy Pryous, a veteran of countless baking nights and former restaurateur, who’d put them into the huge ovens for the timed baking process.

While the “Baking Nights” are often lengthy – and sometimes tiring – the end result is always the same. It enables the Church of the Annunciation to continue its storied history of offering the best Greek pastry and food in the state during events like this weekend’s Food Fair and the three-day festival in September.

This weekend’s Greek Food Fair will feature Annunciation’s famous gyro sandwich, which is a blend of beef and lamb, bread crumbs and spices grilled and served with onions, tomatoes, tzutziki sauce on grilled pita bread, and roasted lamb dinner and chicken dinners, pork souvlaki and Pastitsio.

Phelan also announced there will be spinach pies, cheese pie, stuffed grape leaves and side dishes like salads, rice pilaf and French fries.

“Our Greek Pastry Shoppe will be well-stocked,” Phelan added. “We’ll have a Greek Coffee House and even Baklava Sundaes.”

The Greek Food Fair will be held Saturday, May 3 from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday, May 4 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Church of the Annunciation’s Mihailides Center, 175 Oaklawn Ave. in Cranston. Parking is free.