Community artist Carly Jaye Smith recently completed her latest contribution to the murals of Moose Jaw by painting the Iatridis clan history onto the side of The Mad Greek restaurant on Main Street.
“I don’t know where to start,” said John Iatridis, who has owned and run The Mad Greek for the last 20 years. “I lost my mother this year. I lost my dad 10 years ago. … We’ve got a big Greek family, which is great. There’s a lot of love. But with a big family comes a lot of loss, too.”
Iatridis’ parents started in Moose Jaw with the Ambassador Café in 1963. Rodo’s Pizza followed, in Moose Jaw and in Regina. The Town ‘n Country restaurant in Gravelbourg was an Iatridis project, as well. The Mad Greek now occupies the original Rodo’s Pizza building.
“It’s hard work, you know, to make all that happen,” Iatridis said. “I think about them every day, I just think about how if it wasn’t for them, I would never have been able to do it either.”
The Mad Greek has done well, Iatridis said, and he’s grateful. He decided to find a way to celebrate the legacy of his family.
“We’ve gotten to that point where we’re starting to lose a lot of aunts and uncles. I wanted something to pay tribute to that, because Moose Jaw has meant so much to them. They came over from what was a really bad time in Greece, and they were accepted here. People talk about second homes, but I think Moose Jaw became home.”
Smith had done an artwork for Iatridis previously. It’s inside The Mad Greek, on the wall to the left of the entrance — from a picture of his parents, Gus and Freda, on their honeymoon in Greece.
“He wanted to represent his mum and dad, who have been the inspiration to running his business and living his life,” Smith said. “That sparked this whole project.”
The mural has it all: the Greek and Canadian flags, Rodo’s Pizza in its various locations, the Ambassador Café, Gus and Freda’s wedding photo, Iatridis’ father Gus with five of his uncles (all dead, now), and a dedication on the very right-most portion that is meant especially for the grandkids.
“I said to her, could we maybe write something on there, you know, for their grandchildren,” Iatridis explained. “Like Yiayia and Papou, which means grandma and grandpa in Greek.”
The final product brought John to tears, he said. Smith also became emotional as she spoke about the process of envisioning and painting the mural.
She said that as she worked, people came to talk about their memories and connection to the family.
“It was just amazing, how many people came up to me and talked to me about Gus and Freda and the family,” she said. “The whole family, people just told me stories, like, ‘I used to work for them!’
“It went from something that John was personally passionate about … to an appreciation of the community and the Iatridis family’s involvement here.”
Iatridis said he’s had many people come and tell him how much they enjoy seeing the mural as they come down the hill.
“Obviously, this is for my mum and dad and my uncles, but we get people coming all the time to take pictures and chat … and I think this means a lot to those people, too.”
