It’s a month with lots of action . . . happenings on many levels . . . where everyone seems to be outdoors, away from the house and the every day routine.

It’s a month that our township has the biggest attendance of visitors, foreigners as well as Greeks.

It’s a month called August.

The classic tourist destinations – the beachfront ones – are, even this year where the tourist period does not cover a period of glory, in satisfactory plentitude.

Also impressive is what happens in the inner villages of the hinterland. In August, they all come alive again. The people, who for years had abandoned them, always return this month, to pay homage to the fatherland.

There are children again playing in the back streets and people setting tables in the courtyards of houses. It’s touching to witness all that joy in people, especially the grannies who never leave the village and look forward to visits from long lost relatives from far away places. Years ago, people from the mainland would visit their local villages every four or five years. Now, however, nostalgia is bigger and the need to escape from the big cities more imperative, so they come back almost every year.

 It’s a different picture in the coastal villages, where the sea is the protagonist and whatever stands around or near the water has the honors, takes the bows and makes the euros.  Hotels, tavernas and shops all sing the same tune: August my dear month, wish you came twice a year.

Of course, here we could get snippy and mention a few un-pleasantries, but let’s stay in a kind and lenient mood and only talk about the positive.  

In the frame of relaxation and good will, several events took place under the aegis of the Gouves demos which deserve to be mentioned.

First, there was a three-day program, dedicated to all the young people. ΔΟΝΑΓ (Municipal Organization of Youth Athletics Gouves) organized some  informative and entertaining events to inform young people about drugs, alcohol and safe sex. The non-governmental organization ACTION, with its four representatives, literally ploughed the beaches and hangouts that the young frequent, providing informative booklets and creating pools for discussions and reflection.

A rock concert with the group GRAMIKI ALFA drew a good number of young people, especially since it was the first time anyone offered an exclusive evening just for them.

And, there was an art exhibit, featuring mainly local artists, which at the evening’s end was moved to the town hall building.  

Then there was a day-long beach volley tournament at the Arina beach, where a large number of young people played with passion for victory.

Certainly a big part of the success for this three-day happening is owed to the efforts and zeal of ΔΟΝΑΓ’s  board of governors, and its president, Mr. Manoli Metoharaki, as well as the efforts of the students from the Iraklion Polytechnic College, who are doing their residency in our demos.

Talking of this special month, we must mention the festival of the Virgin Mary, which is justly called the Easter of summertime, in its unique splendor where the faithful celebrate in churches and music fans in the local festivals.

On another night, the few of us who had the good luck to find ourselves in the Pano Gouves Grammar School’s courtyard, watched a unique concert from the Municipal chorus Kantus M from the German city of Puchen.

And yet another night, at the exhibit center in Gournes, Loudovikos from Anogia, with his uniquely sensitive voice, traveled the listeners along some paths of dreams and love.  

The cultural events in our Municipality continue as I’m writing this article with the Greek cinema’s matinee idol Fethona Georgitsi in a theatrical production titled The Fable of Aesop.

And, as this August ends, we look forward to another exciting August next year.