Simply Slavic draws crowd

By jeanne starmack

starmack@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Under the tents at the Simply Slavic festival downtown Saturday, the rain didn’t matter.

It was dry and cozy. The music was festive. The smell of good food was everywhere, and if you were of Slovak, Serbian, Croatian, Polish or Rusyn descent, you could identify wafts of different aromas here and there: butter and onions simmering for pierogies, but a touch of cabbage in there meant haluski; and near the vending area for Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Church, the unmistakable smell of stuffed cabbage rolls and kielbasa.

It was the smell of home when you were young.

Next to the church, also offering up stuffed cabbages as well as pierogies and kielbasa subs, was Krakus Polish Deli & Bakery of 7050 Market St. in Boardman.

Vincent Sylvester, a friend who was there helping out deli owner Marta Mazuk, said he didn’t think the rain was hurting turnout at all for the fifth annual festival, which has grown from one block to three on East Federal Street.

“People love to eat,” he said. “In Youngstown, they’ll come out for anything celebrating heritage.”

The vendors made sure there was plenty to choose from. Everybody offered a specialty.

Autumn Johnston, also known as The Pierogi Lady, traveled from Hartville, narrowing her choices from a selection of more than 100 fillings to three for the festival: loaded baked potato, sauerkraut and kielbasa, and potato, cheddar and jalapeno. In the evening, she was going to bring out a “potato kraut burger” filled pierogie that she promised would be outstanding.

Christopher’s Downtown was selling a kielbasa sandwich and haluski.

The Carpatho-Rusyn Society was offering “real halusky,” as their sign advertised – made with dumplings rather than noodles, and a summer salad made from cucumbers, onions, dill, sugar and vinegar.

If you wanted dessert, your sweet tooth wasn’t neglected. The deli was offering cheese blintzes and kolachi, which are, of course, nut rolls, those famous logs of pastry wrapped around crushed-walnut filling.

First-time vendors at the festival, Dave and Joanne Kuhns of Tamaqua, Pa., brought their products from Pastry Ridge Farm.

“Everything is homemade,” said Joanne. “There’s no preservatives.”

“Everything” included kolachi filled not only with nuts but prunes, raspberries or apricots. Kolacky, the “little cookie,” is the small version.

The Happy Hearts Junior Tamburitzans were selling fruit strudel to raise money for their trip to the Croatian Fraternal Union festival next summer in Chicago.

And the Circle of Serbian Sisters from Holy Trinity Serbian Church featured baklava and palachinka, which are crepes, with strawberry, grape and apricot fillings.

Barbara and Mike Rogich from the West Side, members of Holy Trinity, were enjoying the festival with their daughter and son-in-law, Danielle and Ross Smith, and grandchildren Luci, 7, and Chloe, 4.

“I like the food and the people,” said Mike Rogich. “The people are intertwined, whether they’re Polish, or Serbian or Slovak. They’re all one family.”

A committee of 25 to 35 people organizes the festival. David Slanina, who’s active on the committee as a lead organizer, said some of the money raised goes toward a $500 scholarship for a student of Slovak descent at Youngstown State University.

Most of the money goes back into the next year’s festival, he said.

“We try to keep the traditions alive for the people who are here,” he said.