The beginning

To International Folklore Festival of Lefkada started in 1962 as an event belonging to the Speech and Art Events which are already organized in Lefkada town since 1955 .

Inspirer and creator of the festival was the late Anthonis Tzevelekis who from his position as President of the Association of Lefkadians in Athens with the help of the Company of Lefkadian Studies and with support from agents of Lefkada and Orpheas Group , realized his dream of making little Lefkada Centre for Language and Speech , Art and Culture .

The festival events were always immediately after Speech and Art Events , the second week of August . Space, the city’s main square. The participation of the world unprecedented and poignant . The festival began with a parade along the market , all of the assemblies. Right and left, a crowd watched and cheered . The parade ended at Beach Park where all the bands making a huge circle were setting “great dance ” Dance of Peace and brotherhood of nations.

To 1962 organized the 1st International Festival of Folk Dances and Songs involving three countries: Yugoslavia , Italy and Greece . The bands from these countries are: Popular Ballets Belgrade ” Zizika Jovanovic Spanats ” the Popular Ballets Catanzaro ” de le Setta Porte” and Lefkada Orpheas .

In 1963 the 2nd International Festival of Folk Dances and Songs of Lefkada has become an international event. It is the only Greek festival which brings together groups from the socialist countries. All of  Lefkada concentrated in the paved central square to see dancing , listening to songs, claps , and be excited to vibrate . The crowd stands for hours from afternoon till after midnight, most upright , attending festival events.

In 1964, the 3rd International Festival of Folk Dances and Songs of Lefkada is from 23 to 31 August. A memorable event of the season is the presence of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis on 27 and 30 August in the crowded central city square. Words cannot describe what happened when Maria Callas in the second visit to the Festival on August 30, sang in the loft scene full of enthusiasm the aria Cavalleria Rusticana accompanied on the piano by the young musician Kyriakos Sfetsas . The island became the focus of national and international projection and global interest.

In 1965 Anthonis Tzevelekis as president of the Association of Lefkadian in Attica and the Organizing Committee of the Festival sends invitations to 25 dance groups from the Philippines and Uganda to Finland and Portugal.

In 1966  Anthonis Tzevelekis achieves something very important : organizing the 7th International Congress of Amicale Folklorique Internationale, an international organization of folklorists in Lefkada measuring only 4 editions of the Folklore Festival . In the period from 20 to 26 May , 50 participants and folk groups from 12 countries are in Lefkada for the conference , which is held under the auspices of the Ministry of the Presidency and Press.

From 1966 until 1967 the organization of the International Folklore Festival is taken over by EOT through the local tourism committee . Anthonis Tzevelekis is active in Athens in his own “Center for Cultural Relations .”