This weekend, citizens of the greater Grand Rapids area will celebrate one of the area's most popular cultural festivals. That's right, it's time for the Grand Rapids Polish Festival, which will take over Rosa Parks Circle this weekend. Beginning today, August 28, and running through Sunday, August 30, this festival has plenty of food, drink, and merriment to go around!
The Polish Festival is put on by the Polish Heritage Society, and they tend to go all out with ethnic Polish foods, traditional polish music, dancing, and of course, beer. There will be live music on the stage at Rosa Parks Circle all weekend. Today's acts include Freddie Zarzecki, Gary Szotko, and Pan Frenek. Tomorrow's musical entertainment will include a live WYGR broadcast, followed by an Uzarski Polka Jam Session. Anyone can participate, so attendees are encouraged to bring their own musical instruments. There will also be performances by Lithuanendary Sounds, and Jerry Kaminski. On Sunday, August 30th, there will be a musical performance by Diddle Styx and the Polish “Busia” Pageant.
If you're hoping to eat or drink, you'll have to get tokens to spend at the food and beverage booths, which will not accept cash. There will be four draft beers available: Miller Light, Coors Light, Lienenkugel's Oktoberfest, and Blue Moon Belgian Wheat, each four tokens a glass. There will also be New Holland beer on draft, no word on what brews specifically. As far as bottles, there will be two different Polish brews available for five tokens apiece: Warka and Tyskie. As far as the food is concerned, it'll be well worth the token purchase (unless you're a vegetarian or vegan); treats on sale include dill pickle soup, real rye bread, kielbasa (seasoned sausage), pierogis, kapusta (Polish saurkraut), golabki (stuffed cabbage leaves), and kolacky (bowtie cookies with raspberry and apricot preserves) and nalesniki (Polish crepes) for dessert. There are also hot dogs and potato chips for children not interested in the more ethnic options.
Of course, this isn't just about eating Polish foods but learning more about Polish heritage, so there will be actual cooking demonstrations, beginning with a potato pancake cooking lesson tonight at 7 pm. Tomorrow afternoon at 2pm, there will be a Czernina cooking demonstration, followed by another Saturday cooking lesson featuring pierogis, a Polish dish not unlike ravioli. All the cooking demonstrations will be run by renowned cooks, Laura and Peter Zeranski, who are the authors of two popular Polish cookbooks, Polish Classic Recipes and Polish Classic Desert. They won the “Best Eastern Cookbook in the U.S.” by Gourmand Magazine in 2013, so their classes should have some excellent tips.
For family-oriented entertainment, there will be a Cornhole/Corn Toss located to the right of the stage at Rosa Parks Circle. The game may be played as singles or doubles and is listed as an all ages attraction. There will also be a clown, a story telling session featuring the Pulaski Queen and her court, Polish Twister, arts and crafts, and free face painting for children.
The Polish Heritage Festival is just one of many regular events taking place in the downtown area that give the West Michigan area a unique, diverse, and engaging social environment and culture. If you are considering making a real estate purchase in the West Michigan real estate market or the greater Gran Rapids real estate market, be sure to enjoy some of our rich, cultural events such as the Polish Heritage Festival before making your final decision, and remember to call Pyxis Realty when you're ready to buy (or sell) a home. Enjoy the Festival, and remember to drink responsibly.