Weekend dedicated to celebrate Poland

By ASHLEY LUTHERN

A Poland Idol competition will be held the second day of the event.

POLAND — What started as an evening of fireworks has turned into a two-day event featuring a craft show, food vendors and the season opening of Yellow Creek Theater.

Celebrate Poland is an expansion of the town’s annual Independence Day celebrations and will have “a lot of activities for all ages,” said Jeff McCreery, vice president of the nonprofit Town One Streetscrapes and coordinator of the celebration.

The free event begins Friday on the Poland Village Green with children’s crafts, the annual firemen’s parade and the Strawberry Festival at the Poland Presbyterian Church. Just before the evening closes with fireworks, Yellow Creek Theater, located behind the Poland Library, will open for its fourth summer by showing a collection of comedic short films.

“We want people to be able to experience the theater so hopefully they’ll come back the rest of the season. It’s really grown by word-of-mouth. It started at half the size we have now, with people sitting on the sand and now there’s a brick patio that we just enlarged to 2,500 square feet,” said Joanne Eiselstein, chairwoman of Yellow Creek Theater.

The theater shows movies every Friday night in the summer, and will screen short films Friday and “From Here to Eternity” Saturday as part of Celebrate Poland.

Throughout the rest of the summer, theater-goers might have a different form of entertainment before their movie.

Winners of Poland Idol, a local version of the reality series “American Idol,” could sing prior to the films, said Cindy Best, coordinator of the singing competition.

Poland Idol will be held on the second day of Celebrate Poland and will be judged by three area musicians: Elaine Carlson; Mike Moritz, owner of Kontinuous Jams Media Group; and Bonnie Chronister, choir instructor at Poland Seminary High School. Contestants are asked to bring an instrumental recording to sing with, said Best.

“We have judges who will be very respectful — no Simons,” said Best, in reference to “American Idol’s” most outspoken, often negative judge, Simon Cowell.

Registration for the contest is required, and contestants can still register by calling Best at (330) 651-2999.

“[Celebrate Poland] and Poland Idol aren’t just for Poland residents, they’re for anybody. We have a lot of talent in our tri-county area and I think people will be pleasantly surprised by how good people are,” Best said.

Celebrate Poland is put on by Town One Streetscapes, a nonprofit community group, and the Firemen’s Association. Town One Streetscapes has been acting as the fiscal agent for the event and has raised funds through its committee and individual donations from residents.

If others would like to donate to Celebrate Poland, they can contact McCreery at (330) 502-3600.