Wednesday's parting shots

Photos by Stacie Joy 

As seen at St. George's Ukrainian Catholic Church on Seventh Street today ahead of Gov. Hochul's visit...

... here are her remarks following the 6 p.m. mass...

Happening now: I'm giving remarks at St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church in New York City to show support for our Ukrainian neighbors. https://t.co/rlH7utfP9T

— Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) March 3, 2022

A Bandura Christmas tomorrow on 7th Street

Via the EVG inbox...

The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus returns to New York City with a special holiday program "A Bandura Christmas," on Saturday, December 3rd!

Founded in 1918, the all-male Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus has captivated audiences in major concert halls in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and Ukraine since immigrating to North America from Europe in 1949. Under the current artistic direction of conductor Oleh Mahlay, today's chorus of bandura players and singers hail from all throughout North America, each volunteering their time and talent for the mission of the ensemble.

Combining the musical characteristics of both the lute and the harp, the Ukrainian bandura is more than a national musical instrument: it is the voice of Ukraine, its history closely tied to the turbulent history of the Ukrainian people. Producing a sound similar to a harpsichord but with a wider range and tone, the modern bandura has between 20 and 65 strings and is tuned like a piano rather than a guitar. The concert variety (the kind played by the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus) has levers that allow the 'bandurist' to quickly change keys during a performance.

Join us this Saturday, December 3rd, as these talented musicians and all-male chorus perform traditional Ukrainian Christmas Carols in the beautiful setting of St George Ukrainian Catholic Church...

The church is at 16 E. Seventh St. (across from McSorley's!) near Cooper Square. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Find ticket info here.

Q-and-A with Andrew Stasiw, chairman of the St. George Ukrainian Festival

[Festival photo from 2012 by Bobby Williams]

The 39th annual St. George Ukrainian Festival, held on East Seventh Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square, starts this afternoon at 4.

In the aftermath of the deadly gas explosion on March 26 on Second Avenue at East Seventh Street, festival organizers decided to donate 10 percent of the profits to The Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City (designated to the East Village building collapse fund). Organizers said that they will look to showcase the unity and the resilience of the East Village with the 2015 edition of the festival.

Here, Andrew Stasiw, chairman of St. George Ukrainian Festival, answered a few questions via email about this year's event.

Were there any conversations about canceling this year's festival?

Yes. Monday after the explosion, I met with key people on the festival committee. We were all horrified by the reality of the accident, and especially by the loss of life.

We determined to wait until I had a chance to reach out to OEM (NYC's Office of Emergency Management) and SAPPO (NYC's Street Activity Permit Office) to determine whether we would even be allowed to have a street closure so quickly. Both offices assured me that the street closure 1 1/2 months later would not be a problem.

Another consideration we discussed with the church committee was our "Grandfather Status" with the City of New York. Should we for moral reasons choose to not hold our festival, we would lose our status, and not be allowed to have a three-day closure again in the next year. The City no longer grants three-day closures, and has not for two decades.

Our festival has now been a 39-year tradition, and an integral part of our outreach to our surrounding community. Our community would be devastated if we lost our permit. Though we could have requested a reprieve from the city, we opted to move forward with the festival, and do something for our community as well.

Thus, the festival committee along with our pastor, Father Bernard Panczuk, agreed that we should proceed with the festival. We reached out to our performers and partners, and all agreed that we should do something to help our community. This is when we determined to utilize part of our net profit to donate to the East Village Relief Fund established by the City. This will benefit both merchants who lost their businesses trying to reboot, and tenants who lost their apartments.

To increase our revenues, all performers have agreed to perform for free in order to help our church, school and the East Village Relief Fund.

How will this year's festival showcase the unity and the resilience of the neighborhood?

There is a passion in the hearts of the people in our neighborhood that is now stronger then ever. We at St. George Church are so grateful, and proud of our neighbors who have reached out to us, offering support for our efforts.

More then ever, this year's festival feels more like a collaborative community event versus just a Ukrainian ethnic festival. The neighborhood is resilient because they are coming together to celebrate our Ukrainian heritage as well as to honor and assist those suffering because of the explosion.

[Photo by Bobby Williams]

What do you personally look forward to each year with the festival?

The kids! Yeah, we get amazing professional artists performing, but it is all about the children. Ukrainian dance schools exist all over the tri-state area, and this festival gives them and their families an opportunity to perform in the City. Through these schools, these children of Ukrainian descent get to learn about their heritage and then share it through song and dance with the people of New York.

As an educator, I see the value for children in these types of after-school activities — helping to build parametric connections in their brains through movement and counting, and also build friendships that last far into their adulthood.

For this year, we are very excited about our festival, but our hearts are broken for the loss of Moises Ismael Locón Yac and Nicholas Figueroa, two young men whose time was cut too short because of the explosion.

At St. George, we pray for them and pray that God comforts the weeping hearts of their families. Personally, I wish I could have done more during this tragic event. I witnessed [the explosion], and it was impossible to get back into the building and look for more potential victims. That day is still hard to talk about, but now we need to focus on what we can do to keep our community strong.

The festival hours are tonight, 4 to 9; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The St. George Ukrainian Festival is this weekend

It's the 39th year for the festival, held on East Seventh Street between Second Avenue and Cooper Square.

Here are a few highlights for 2015 (via the EVG inbox):

• A portion of the festivals profit will be donated to the victims of the deadly gas explosion on March 26

• Street vendors from the community will be selling a range of Ukrainian food and merchandize to support the local church and community

• More than 100 performances from professional Ukrainian dance ensembles, singers and musicians.

Look for an interview here with Andrew Stasiw, chairman of St. George Ukrainian Festival, later this week.

Ukrainian Christmas, and the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church

EVG regular Mykola (Mick) Dementiuk reminded us that today is Ukrainian Christmas ... (and Orthodox Christmas Day).

[Via WallyG on Flickr]

And here's a little history of the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church ... via the church's website...

The first record of a Ukrainian liturgy of the Byzantine tradition was celebrated in the church basement of St. Brigid located on Avenue B, on April 19, 1890 by Father Alexander Dzubaj. In 1892, the Greek Catholic congregation purchased St. Ilee in Brooklyn. Even in those days similar to today, land in New York City was very expensive and Ukrainian immigrants so poor, that it was not feasible for them to purchase a church or land in the city. Thus, it took Ukrainian Catholics another 13 years before they founded St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church in 1905.

Late in 1905, the Ukrainian community of Manhattan purchased the Colgate Chapel from a Baptist congregation on East 20th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues. The chapel was converted into the Byzantine Ukrainian Catholic style and hence was born the first church of its kind on the island of Manhattan.

The new church was dedicated to Saint George and well maintained from its inception. In 1911, the need for a larger church was obvious and the congregation of St. George purchased a Methodist church on 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. The new location was immediately converted to the Greek Catholic style in order to serve a growing Ukrainian catholic community.

The current church building of St. George was built in 1978.

Here are two undated photos of the apartment building that stood on the southeast corner of East Seventh Street and Shevchenko Place before the current church was built... in the first shot, you can see the dome of the original St. George in the background ... (going east on Seventh Street...)

...this shot is from East Sixth Street looking north along Shevchenko Place to East Seventh Street ... you can see McSorley's straight ahead... the apartment building where the church is now is on the corner... and you can see a bit of the St. George Elementary School and St. George Academy in the near right corner...

[Via Facebook]