Thursday, May 19, 2016

The 40th annual St. George Ukrainian Festival is this weekend



One of our favorite neighborhood activities (traditions?) is this weekend... here are some highlights of the 40th annual St. George Ukrainian Festival via the EVG inbox...


This year's festival on East Seventh Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square will run from Friday evening, May 20, through late afternoon Sunday, May 22, with stage performances featuring folk dancing and singing beginning at:

Friday 5/20 - 6:30 pm
Saturday 5/21 - 2 pm & 6 pm
Sunday 5/22 - 1:30 pm & 4 pm

Admission: 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 (see Dumplings for the Lord) and in addition to these "varenyky," there will also be plenty of cabbage rolls (holubtsi), beet soup (borsch), sausage (kobasa) and sauerkraut for sale. NYC mainstays Veselka Restaurant and Korchma Taras Bulba will also be on hand all weekend long with some of their favorite Ukrainian menu items.

Saint George Ukrainian Catholic Church, located at 30 E. Seventh St., 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. The historic parish will open the church to the public in between stage shows on Saturday, and four Divine liturgies will be celebrated on Sunday beginning at 8:30 am. Visitors will be able to enjoy the breathtaking church ornamentation, paintings, and incredible mosaics in the Byzantine-Ukrainian style.



Find the official Facebook event page here. (And you can find our previous coverage here.)

The festivities officially begin Friday at 4 p.m. And let's hope the weather holds off for Saturday. (Ditto for the Dance Parade, which will post about later.)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It'd been confirmed that Ukraine won the Eurovision. It'd be great if Jamala makes a surprise appearance.

To the East Villagers of today!, they might think Eurovision is some sort of lux clothing boutique shop specializing in European bespoke jeans or a Euro designer eyewear store specializing in the Achemenid and Parthian designer eyewears in The Bowery; and that Jamala is some sort of designer foodie trend -- a fusion of jam and tamales soaked in Michelada, handcrafted and farm-to-table, of course.

Sorry but I haven't had my daily smoothie dose of bone broth, wheat grass, probiotic, and aloe vera in 10X filtered water.

Dan C. said...

Back in the late 80s, early 90s, there was one old woman who had a booth always near 2nd Ave, and she sold what had to be the best burgers I ever tasted. Every year I'd spend some time at the festival then scarf down these burgers. (After having some piergois first)

I can only assume she passed away. I have seen her in decades.

Anonymous said...

@8:51 ..... what?

Eden Bee said...

All this great stuff going on outside this saturday and it's the coldest, rainiest day of the week. Dance parade, Pete Missing's show at the mural and this. Boo. Hope things can be rescheduled.

Anonymous said...

Always a fun event...can't wait...I'll probably end up seeing parts of all 3 days!

- East Villager

Anonymous said...

Pyrohy! Holubtsi! Pyvo!!! You-betcha!!!