April 29, 2016

Syracuse parish festival to celebrate diamond jubilee

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The Odesa Dancers perform at Syracuse’s Ukrainian Festival; featured are Laura Hanuszczak and Iryna Hret.

A 75th anniversary is traditionally recognized as a diamond jubilee, and the Ukrainian Festival in Syracuse, N.Y., on Friday and Saturday, July 29-30, this year will mark its diamond jubilee.

St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, officially established in 1900, began the tradition of holding a parish festival to support our Ukrainian Catholic parish, community and culture in 1941. Over the years, these festivals have included folk dance performances, bands, singers, games, rides, sweepstakes and raffles to raise money for the parish.

What’s most popular, of course, is the Ukrainian food. This year’s festival will feature the usual, including over 14,000 varenyky, 4,000 holubtsi, 500 links of kovbasa, 750 pounds of onions, 17 tubs of kapusta and countless gallons of borshch, besides the ever popular breads, baked goods and American picnic food. Coming for both take-out and to eat at the festival, over 11,000 people from the Central New York area visited the two-day festival last year.

The logo for the 75th anniversary festival of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church.

The logo for the 75th anniversary festival of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church.

In addition to the jubilee festivities, another anniversary will be celebrated in the form of a reunion. Located next to the church on the parish grounds is a school building once known as St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School. Serving kindergarten through eighth grade from 1954 to 1987, the fully accredited school enrolled children of the parish, most of whom were the first generation to be born in the United States. This year, the class of 1971 will gather to reflect on their years there. Classmate and organizer Mary Zarichny Deskiewicz hopes to reach all 19 of the former students. Not all of the graduates currently live in the area, and some of those who do are no longer parishioners at St. John’s.

There will be a designated table at the festival where former classmates can meet and reminisce as they eat and drink. Some will be meeting their peers again for the first time since graduation 45 years ago. Class photos will be displayed, and there will be an opportunity to update contact information for future reunions.

As the home of Bishop Borys Gudziak, the Syracuse community is always doubly blessed when he can manage to fit the festival into his schedule. Last year’s festival brought both Bishop Gudziak and Bishop Paul Chomnycky to Syracuse, and a pontifical liturgy was celebrated to a packed church as part of the festival events. The mingling of the Ukrainian Catholic faith, the Ukrainian cultural heritage, food and fun brings the community into the Central New York spotlight every year.

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