Ukrainian Festival celebrates 50 years

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This article was published 01/08/2015 (3896 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DAUPHIN — You don’t have to be Ukrainian to feel like family at Canada’s National Ukrainian Festival.

This August long weekend marks the festival’s 50th anniversary, and during its lengthy run CNUF has fostered a close-knit community.

“It has brought our group closer together,” said Cathy Paroschy-Harris, a teacher with Thunder Bay’s Chaban Ukrainian Dance Group

She has been making the 11-hour pilgrimage from Ontario to the Selo Ukrainia site just south of Dauphin for the past 10 years.

This year, more than 80 people travelled with Paroschy-Harris and the dance group to celebrate the festival’s 50th. For Paroschy-Harris, Watching her students perform in the amateur talent show is the highlight of the three-day festival.

“I’ve taught many of these kids since they were four years old … so it makes you proud and it gives (us) something to work towards,” she said, adding that the festival’s musical lineup is also cause for excitement. “Where can you polka and waltz until two in the morning?”

The inaugural festival was held in Dauphin in 1965 and was billed as a celebration of the area’s large Ukrainian population. Since then, CNUF has grown into the largest Ukrainian cultural festival in the country and the Selo Ukraina heritage site has become a year-round area attraction.

Mary Zaporzan lives in Dauphin and has been involved with CNUF since it started.

“It’s exciting to see people still participating,” said Zaporzan, who is glad to see a younger generation attending the festival. “There’s so many more youth involved than there were at the beginning.”

Zaporzan says she has watched many of the young Ukrainian dancers grow up at CNUF over the years.

Ukrainian dance groups and bands will be performing on the festival’s three stages starting at 1 p.m. today and Sunday. The grandstand show in CNUF’s 11,000-seat amphitheatre starts at 2 p.m. and continues into the evening. Sunday night’s finale concert features the Mad Heads, a rock band from Ukraine.

The festival’s Selo Hall houses traditional clothing and wares for sale, as well as interactive craft demonstrations.

In the corner of the hall you’ll find Del Preston teaching visitors how to make pysankys, or Ukrainian Easter eggs.

“It’s the best therapy in the world. I could do it for hours,” said Preston, who has been making the intricate eggs for 27 years.

Preston hopes to teach 120 students the process this weekend, which includes making designs on the chicken eggs with beeswax, dipping them in colourful dyes and sealing them with varnish.

“You can keep them forever,” said Preston, pointing to an egg she made in 1994.

Another big draw is the festival’s heritage village, which features the original pioneer homes of Ukrainian settlers and actors performing historical demonstrations in period clothing.

Traditional Ukrainian foods like perogies, garlic sausage, homemade bread and beet leaf buns can be found at the festival’s various vendors.

Livia Johnson, CNUF’s chief administrative officer, says the festival’s 50th anniversary should translate to a record attendance.

“We’re just not prepared for this amount of people so soon,” said Johnson on Friday afternoon.

She estimates 10,000 people will come through the grounds this weekend.

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