East Village, Manhattan – The annual
Saint George Ukrainian Festival in the East Village's "Little
Ukraine", featured on the Emmy-winning NYC Media's "Bare Feet" highlight of immigrant cultural life in the City, holds the
distinction of being the oldest and largest Ukrainian folk dance festival
outside of Ukraine.
The festival routinely draws several thousand
down to the East Village every year. The festival has been featured in books
such as The Suburbanization of New York as an example of a
city festival that "still reflects any sense of place".
This year's festival will run from Friday
evening, May 19, through late afternoon Sunday, May 21, with stage performances
featuring folk dancing and singing beginning on: May 19 - 6:00 p.m., May 20 -
2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., and May 21 - 1:30 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. Admission is
free.
A KidsZone will be active on Saturday
and Sunday, with activities for children including Ukrainian art-making
stations and face painting.
Tens of thousands of sought-after
Ukrainian dumplings have been prepared in advance by church volunteers. in addition to these 'varenyky', there
will also be plenty of cabbage rolls (holubtsi), beet soup (borsch),
sausage (kobasa) and sauerkraut for sale. NYC favorite Veselka Restaurant will also
be on hand all weekend long with some of their favorite Ukrainian menu items.
The festival will occupy all of East 7th
Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenues, bordered at its West end by Taras
Shevchenko Place, a small street connecting East 6th and East 7th Streets. In
the United States, it is the only such street officially named after Taras
Shevchenko (1814-1861), the "National Bard of Ukraine".
Saint George Ukrainian Catholic Church,
located at 30 East 7th Street, was founded in the East Village in 1905. The
church has sponsored an annual festival since the very first one in 1976, then
officially a co-celebration of the U.S. Bicentennial and 100 years of Ukrainian
immigration to America.
Additional information on the customs
and origins related to the festival is available through the following links: http://nyti.ms/1Ti4JJV and http://nyti.ms/1ikdVwN
Source:
The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America
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