Ethnic groups will unite for a new street festival

Two things you need to know about next month’s inaugural Simply Slavic Festival:

It’s not a polka party.

There will be pirogi.

The June 18 event will be a street festival in downtown Youngstown, the kind of summertime gathering this city loves. Think Greater Youngstown Italian Festival, but on a smaller scale.

Another thing: You don’t have to be Slavic to attend. Anybody who loves an outdoor party with music, food and friends is welcome.

The idea for the festival was born when the city approached Polish Youngstown about putting on a downtown festival. Aundrea Heschmeyer of that organization figured it would be better to include all Slavic people and reached out. She, Ken Shirilla and David Slanina are putting it together, with the help of several Slavic groups and churches.

First a word about what makes this unique. While everybody is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, and although the Mahoning Valley has — at last count — 189 Italian festivals, the Slavs have no high-profile parties. That is odd, considering this area has more Slavs than any other ethnic group.

The reason can be traced back to Eastern Europe, where the divided nature of the Slavs has its roots.

As a people, Slavs are united by tribal ancestry, language, religion, geography and politics. But it’s those same things that also divide them. The Slavic people live in about a dozen mostly contiguous countries (unlike Italians or Irish, who live in one), and have a history of war amongst themselves.

The old joke repeated by Slavic-Americans says it all: My grandfather lived in the same house all his life, but in three different countries.

Youngstown is actually on the forefront here, because it is among the first American cities to have a pan-Slavic celebration.

But the event is going to do more than just bring together the area’s many Slavic groups, as well as Slavs-for-a-day.

A secondary goal is to introduce young Slavs to their culture and keep traditions alive — even if slightly updated.

Many Slavic churches and groups have an annual festival, but they get the same people each year, and the crowds are getting smaller, according to Heschmeyer.

The Simply Slavic Festival will celebrate each country and educate people about its culture.

There will be heritage tables set up, with each displaying a flag, a map, how to count to 10 in their language and a few other cultural basics. This will allow onlookers to note the similarities and differences among the countries.

There also will be a Marketplace, folk music and dance performances, workshops and a baking contest.

Rare and imported beers will be sold, with “beer flights” offered for those who want to sample them all.

To involve the younger crowd, a “Slavic disco party” with DJ Richard Elmsworth (Gil Mantera’s Party Dream’s Ultimate Donnie) will begin at 9 p.m., an hour after the festival closes.

Simply Slavic will be on East Federal Street, between Wick Avenue and Champion Street (Central Square will remain open to traffic).

Giant tents will be set up just in case (but as Simply Slavic notes, bring babushka in case of rain).

More details will be released closer to the date, but for now, you can learn more at simplyslavic.com.