Published: May 09, 2008 10:12 am            

PolkaFest to highlight differing styles

BY RUTH RICE

RRICE@TRIBDEM.COM

The area’s first outdoor festival of the year will fill the air with ethnic-rich sounds.

The Friendly City PolkaFest, sponsored by Greater Johnstown/Cambria County Convention and Visitors Bureau and St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church, will be held May 30 through June 1 at the church’s pavilion, Fifth and Power streets in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

“We feature two types of polkas, Polish and Slovenian,” said Jayne Korenoski, director of advertising and sales for the bureau. “We rotate them throughout the festival, and it’s been successful. I don’t think any other festival combines them like that.”

Korenoski explained that the louder Polish polka style involves more horns while the softer Slovenian style features more accordions.

The two styles also have different tempos.

Whatever the tempo, polka aficionados will be able to dance on a new enlarged wooden dance floor sponsored by Monsignor Raymond Balta, pastor of St. Mary’s.

Korenoski said the stage area has been redone with risers so that audience members have better views of the bands.

She added that corporate sponsors have allowed the PolkaFest to operate without charging admission by providing funds for nationally known polka bands from across the United States and Canada.

“At first, we had PolkaFest at the Masonic Temple and charged an admission fee,” Korenoski said. “Since moving to Cambria City three years ago and making it free, we’ve seen a huge increase in locals both young and old attending.”

Korenoski said visitors don’t have to like or be familiar with polka music to enjoy the festival.

“If you appreciate music, you can appreciate the festival,” she added. “You can have a good time and party with friends.”

William “Polish Bill” Marano and his wife, Deb, serve as chairpersons of PolkaFest.

The biggest challenge for the Maranos and Korenoski is scheduling performers for next year’s PolkaFest.

“The biggest thing is to book in advance,” Korenoski said. “It’s the first thing I do, usually when one year’s event is ending.

“We start in January with fundraisers. It’s not as labor-intensive as some other things we do.”

The festival will kick off with the Don Wojtila Orchestra and the Polka Family Band playing alternating one-hour sets from 6 to 10 p.m. May 30.

The Wojtila orchestra has been sharing its Slovenian-style music from Las Vegas and Branson, Mo., to New York City since 1980.

It has released four compact discs, two in the 1980s, one in the 1990s and one in 2005.

The Polka Family Band, which plays Polish-style polkas, began in the 1970s as a single-family group in southern California.

Saturday’s lineup will feature the Polka Quads from noon to 2, Don Wojtila from 2 to 3 and 4 to 5, Tony’s Polka Band with special guest Eddie Biegaj from 3 to 4 and 5 to 6, the Dick Taddy Orchestra from 6 to 7 and 8 to 9, and Polka Country Musicians from 7 to 8 and 9 to 10.

A polka Mass featuring Rosie and the Jammers will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday at SS. Casimir & Emerich Roman Catholic Church, 501 Power St.

The Polka Quads are from southcentral Pennsylvania and have been playing Croatian and Slovenian polkas, waltzes and ballads with a taste of Latin and pop thrown in for 30 years.

The six-piece Tony’s Polka Band, which plays Polish-style polkas, was named best polka band by the American Accordionists’ Association in 2003.

Members of the Slovenian-style Dick Tady Orchestra have been the recipients of numerous music awards since 1990.

The Polish-style Polka Country Musicians have been named favorite band for 2004, 2006 and 2007 by the United States Polka Association, based in Cleveland.

Sunday will start with another polka Mass featuring the John Gora Band from 11 a.m. to noon at St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church.

The Gora band will continue the festival from 1 to 2, followed by the Karl Lukitsch Band from 2 to 3 and 4 to 5 and “Pan” Franek & Zosia from 3 to 4 and 5 to 6.

The Polish-style John Gora Band, also known as the Music Factory, has performed at festivals, dances and special events throughout the United States and southern Ontario.

The Karl Lukitsch Band is one of western Pennsylvania’s most popular and versatile bands, with a signature sound made up of high energy Slovenian-style polkas and melodic waltzes.

“Pan” Franek and Zosia and the Polka Towners are a talented family of musicians that specializes in Polish-style polkas and waltzes.

Korenoski said the group’s fiddling daughters, Kristine, Andrea and Erika, are showstoppers.

No festival is complete without food, and PolkaFest will have plenty.

Ethnic foods such as haluski, pigs in the blanket, pierogi, hot sausage and kielbasa and sauerkraut will be available as well as hamburgers, hot dogs and gobs.

SS. Casimir & Emerich church will kick off the festival with one of its famous fish fries on May 30.

A children’s area in the parking lot of Johnstown Housing Authority, 501 Chestnut St., will feature games and other activities sponsored by the Women, Infants and Children program of the Community Action Partnership of Cambria County.

“It’s a fundraiser for WIC,” Korenoski said.



On stage

What: Friendly City PolkaFest.

Where: St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church pavilion, Fifth and Power streets in the Cambria City section of Johnstown.

When: 6 to 10 p.m. May 30, noon to 10 p.m. May 31 and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 1.

Admission: Free.

Information: 536-7993 or (800) 237-8590.

        

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