Wow, what a great time the 'good wife' and I had last night in the Big City Western MIchigan [Grand Rapids.] After a wonderful meal, that featured some of the best desserts I've ever had we went downtown to the above title Polish festival. It was fun as we listened to foot-stomping, music from accordions, drums and violins. I didn't know you could dance the polka so fast; we sat there watching amazed, I mean those who chose to dance never stopped bouncing up and down. WE even watched a very very old couple and I didn't know at their age a human still had so much energy. Finally the good wife and I came to the conclusion if you didn't have some ancestry of Polish blood you just couldn't do the polka right! Then to our amazement they brought out this young boy [7 or 8 yrs old] who had just played in Vegas. He was a blond cute little kid, and had a custom-sized accordion - and could he play, and he even sang a couple of songs, one in English one in Polish. You've seen those little statutes with the bobbing heads in car dashes - he could make his head bob with the best of them, I thought it was going to fall right off his shoulders! They had to make him stand on a big trunk so that everyone could see/hear him. He gave the regular accordion player a run for his money. There were Polish food tents all around the big stage!! It was great, I only wished I could go back sometime this weekend [which I can't because our town has its own Annual Fall Festival]and sample all the different foods. I did note from the leaflet we got that a lot of the food,
dumplings, sauerkraut, potatoes and cabbage might be similiar to German foods. On the agenda there were 'homemade polish cooking demonstrations, a huge beer tent, pride of Poland displays, Polish pottery and assorted historical vendors and two during the weekend there was a Polish Guest Lecturer who would tell the unknown story of Polish forces in WWII from the Battle of Britain to the capture of Berlin. Along with all the happenings there were also Children's Activities in Polish Arts/Crafts. The highlight of all this was the Polish Heritage Society Citizen of the Year Award Ceremony on Sunday. There were three MAJOR food tents: 1]That Polish Girl Catering which features dishes like Homemade Golumbki, Homemade Dill Pickle Soup and Homemade Kapusta; 2] 'Busia Poza' Sak, which featured Golabki 'Belke' Dinner, Polish Kaminski Kabob and Pierogi's; 3] 'Little Warsaw' featuring many of the above named dishes plus Fresh made Kielbasa Potato Pancakes and HOmemade Authentic Nalesniki. I'm getting hungry just writing about these things. Though I am not Polish, I am definitely of German ancestory and was really excited to be able to see this; plus I enjoy cultural events. I think in the United States nowdays we celebrate to rarely the blessings of our individual cultures that make our country so rich .......its not divisive but enriching. Well I've got to close and get downtown to our own redneck Southwestern Michigan Fall Festival to gouge myself with all the goodies, taffee and kettle cooked popcorn, etc. etc. that looks like a cholesterol parade to my stomach. Gotta love it.
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There used to be a polish festival every year where I lived up in Minnesota that I used to regularly attend. I always found that the more beer one consumed, the better polka music sounded.
ReplyDeleteI imagine the alcohol would give you a different perspective, and hearing!! I really loved the experience.
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy the various community festivals we have in St. Louis: Italian, Irish, German and Polish being the primary ones, although the Greek Orthodox folks have a shindig around Labor Day every year and the Bosnians are getting up to speed. The latter are even acclimating to St. Louis by having beer tents!
ReplyDeleteCheers.