26th annual Verkhovyna Youth Festival held at SUM resort

ELLENVILLE, NY - Despite rainy weather and the unavailability of its usual location, the 26th annual Verkhovyna Festival was successfully held on August 3-5 here on the grounds of the Ukrainian American Youth Association's "Oselia."

Entertainers, vendors and guests from across North America and Ukraine converged on this setting amid the mountains to take part in the festival which is usually held at the Verkhovyna resort in Glen Spey, New York.

Verkhovyna, formerly owned by the Ukrainian Fraternal Association, was recently bought by the Ukrainian American Cultural Foundation, but was not available to the Ukrainian community this summer. The performers donated their efforts to this year's festival to help support the Verkhovyna purchase by the UACF.

Thunderstorms on Friday night knocked out power at the resort and on Saturday forced the festival program indoors. On Sunday afternoon, however, seats in the shade and cool drinks were in high demand, as festival-goers were treated to an outdoor program beneath sunny skies.

The MCs for this year's festival were Jaroslaw Palylyk and Roman Wasylyk.

Text and photos by Andrij Wowk

Illustrations:

• Bandurist Iryna Hrechko entertains festival-goers during Sunday's program.
  
  
• A little girl gets a costume adjustment before showtime.
  
  
• The Cheres folk ensemble, which perfomed a variety of songs from the Carpathian and Bukovynian regions of Ukraine.
  
  
• Younger members of the Unist Dance Ensemble gather before their performance.
  
  
• Singer Ludmilla Djoi entertains the audience on Saturday.
  
  
• The members of the Lviviany band perform outdoors on Sunday.
  
  
• New Jerseyan Eddie Aldycki and Natalie Briuniak, visiting from Kyiv, explore the vendor displays.
  
  
• Members of the Unist Dance Ensemble (Ukrainian American Youth Association, Yonkers Branch) welcome the audience with the "Pryvit" dance at Saturday's program.
  
  
• Myroslawa Semerey of Brunswick, Md., shows off her wares in one of the many booths at the festival.
  
  
• The Promin vocal ensemble, directed by Bohdanna Wolanska, performs during Sunday's program.

Meanwhile, at Verkhovyna...

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 12, 2001, No. 32, Vol. LXIX

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