6,000 attend ninth Ukrainian festival at Soyuzivka

KERHONKSON, N.Y. – Approximately 6,000 people attended the ninth annual Ukrainian Cultural Festival under the theme “Solidarity with Ukraine” during a beautiful summer weekend on July 10-12 at the Soyuzivka Heritage Center. That spirit of solidarity could be seen all around the Soyuzivka grounds, not only the stage show, but among the vendors, the delicious food, the exhibits and film screenings, with the sounds of “Glory to Ukraine, Glory to the Heroes” echoing throughout the festival. The schedule of events offered festival-goers a variety of things to enjoy. Friday’s evening stage show got under way promptly at 6 p.m. with emcee Marta Czurylowicz, a Canadian television journalist. Two top-notch dance groups shared the festival stage: the Roma Pryma Bohachevsky Ukrainian Dance Workshop and the Lehenda Ukrainian Dance Company from Australia (which had just wrapped up a multi-city tour in the U.S. and Canada).

Derogatory ad by Verizon irks Ukrainian community

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Telecom giant Verizon has drawn the ire of the Ukrainian community in the United States and around the world with its offensive advertisement that showed a couple channel-surfing, and complaining that anything would be better to watch than Ukrainian dancing. The advertisement on its website has been modified (replacing the Ukrainian dancers with a pottery demonstration and a wildlife documentary) since a campaign was launched by the Ukrainian members demanding that Verizon remove  the ad and issue a formal apology. The ad, believed to be created by McCann Advertising Agency (which, incidentally, has an office in Kyiv for Verizon), has sparked a “Shame on Verizon” Facebook page that has attracted more than 2,500 followers. Many are sending in 10- to 30-second video clips with the hashtag #AnythingButVerizon and nominating another person(s) for the challenge, while including their city and country. People have uploaded videos to YouTube with the hashtags #AnythingButVerizon and #Help Ukraine, and are sharing them on social media.

Ukraine finishes in eighth place at European Games in Baku

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Ukraine finished in eighth place in the medal standings with 46 medals (eight gold, 14 silver and 24 bronze) at the Baku 2015 European Games on June 12-28. Following is The Weekly’s report on the results of the final three days of the European Games. Inna Cherniak (57 kg) won the blind judo event 100-1 against Sabina Abdullayeva of Azerbaijan after scoring ippon. In the same weight class, Natalia Nikolaychyk tied for bronze with Ramona Brussig of Germany. Svitlana Iaromka (+78 kg) tied for bronze with Belkis Kaya of Turkey; Oleksandr Pominov (+90 kg) won silver in the men’s blind judo; Iakiv Khammo (+100 kg) tied for bronze with Renat Saidov of Russia; and Ukraine’s men’s judo team – Georgii Zanataraia (66 kg), Serhiy Drebot  and Artem Khomula (73 kg), Vitalli Dudchyk (81 kg), Quedajau Nhabali and Vadym Synyavsky (90 kg), and Oleksandr Gordiienko and Khammo (+100 kg) – tied for bronze with Russia.

Ukraine wins 35 medals at Baku 2015 European Games

PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Ukraine is in 11th place in the medals standings with 35 medals (six gold, 11 silver and 18 bronze) at the Baku 2015 European Games on June 12-28. Ukraine’s team is represented by 241 athletes, among the 6,000 competitors representing 50 participating countries in 20 sports disciplines. Twelve of the sports – archery, athletics, boxing, cycling, judo, shooting, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, triathlon, volleyball and wresting – will offer qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Alina Stadnik Makhynia (69 kg) won gold in women’s freestyle wrestling against Ilana Kratysh of Israel 3-1, and Tetyana Lavrenchuk (58 kg) and Yuliia Tkach (63 kg) won silver medals. Dimitriy Timchenko (98 kg) and Zhan Beleniuk (85 kg) won silver medals and Dmytro Pyshkov (75 kg) won bronze in Greco-Roman wrestling; Valerii Andriitsev (97 kg) and Vasyl Shuptar (61 kg) won bronze medals in men’s freestyle wrestling.