March 30, 2018

A thank-you to our partners

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By now, all our subscribers and many others have had a chance to peruse the latest Ukrainian Debutante Balls supplement published in this newspaper. This year’s deb issue, published on March 18, featured nine debutante balls held in the states of Illinois and New Jersey (two balls each), Michigan, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania on beautifully laid out color pages. Highlighted, of course, were the debutantes and their escorts in formal group photos, as well as in photographs of the official presentations and the dances that followed. We’ve received quite a few compliments on this year’s edition of this perennially popular issue – our 18th annual, in case you’re keeping count. In comparison, last year’s deb issue (issue date: April 2, 2017) featured six balls, held in Ohio, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Illinois.

These debutante issues are produced thanks to great cooperation with debutante ball organizers who each year send in stories and high-quality photos about their gala events in time for publication before the Easter season. (That is why, for example, this year’s issue came out in March, while last year’s was in April – it’s all about when Easter falls according to the Gregorian and the Julian calendars.)

We offer them a sincere and enthusiastic thank-you for working with us on this yearly special project. And we thank them for sharing more than just the single formal group photograph. It’s wonderful to see photos of our young people enjoying this well-established tradition of debutante balls. For that, the photographers also deserve huge thanks.

Next up: Our annual supplement called “A Ukrainian Summer.” The 2017 edition of that special section comprised 24 full-color pages. (See our May 7, 2017, edition, which is available online at www.ukrweekly.com.) As is the case each year, the focus is on a variety of summertime activities, most of them geared toward the younger generations of our community, plus travel features, cultural offerings, and sports and educational opportunities. Among the features was a calendar listing 51 – yes, fifty-one – Ukrainian festivals to be held across North America during the period of May through September of 2017.

Again, such an undertaking would not be possible without the cooperation of our readers and our community organizations who respond to our annual invitation to send information about Ukrainian things to do during the summer season. Look for the advertisement of the upcoming 2018 issue on page 24, and do send shares what’s planned in your part of Ukrainian North America.

And, for Ukrainian Independence Day, which is marked on August 24, we’ll reprise an idea from last year, whereby we invited our Facebook friends to send in photos and captions of how they celebrated the holiday wherever they were. We published a selection of the responses – choosing the most interesting or notable submissions – a few days after the celebrations. (See our issue dated September 3, 2017. By the way, our personal favorite was a photo of Lesya Hrycenko of Lafayette, La., with the Ukrainian national flag unfurled atop one of the tallest peaks in the Smoky Mountains. Her sister Darya of Westminster, Colo., took the Ukrainian Independence Day photo against a stunning natural backdrop.) This year, we hope to receive even more submissions from interesting venues, so look for our invitation as the holiday approaches.

Dear Readers: We conclude this editorial by saying “thank you” to our partners – you – as we look forward to continuing and expanding our cooperation.

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