Folk Festival offers up taste of Slovenia
To learn about Slovenia, people need look no further than the Cleveland area.
According to Lake County's International Folk Festival Committee, the Cleveland area is home to the largest Slovenian population outside of Europe.
On Saturday afternoon, the committee held its sixth annual International Folk Festival to celebrate the country and its culture at Lakeland Community College.
"I think it was really successful," said Jennifer Forster, chair of the committee and director of the Center for International Education at Lakeland.
"There were over 350 people, and to have such a good crowd on such a nice day speaks highly of Slovenian culture and the strength of the community. And I hope all the non-Slovenians were able to catch a glimpse of the culture."
Those glimpses included Slovenian sausage sandwiches and pastries, and displays from the Slovenian Museum and Archives, the Slovenian Genealogy Society, the Slovenian Art Guild, St. Mary's and St. Vitus Slovenian schools, and the National Cleveland Slovenian-Style Polka Hall of Fame and Museum.
Speakers also touched on Slovenian culture, art and film, as well as the beekeeping trade in Slovenia.
"We had some beekeepers in our family ... in Goriska Brda," said Pat Budzilek, who helped create a display on beekeeping for the festival.
She explained the beekeepers usually had a giant wall that looked like a large chest with several drawers. Each drawer was handpainted with a different scene, often telling a folk story.
"Then the bees would come and go, but they knew which drawer to go to," she said, holding up an original, hand-painted drawer, visibly worn by the elements.
The festival also entertained attendees with several performances including Mi Smo Mi, a male a capella group; Kres Folklore Dancers, accompanied by Matt Frank on the button accordion; Dr. Zvone Zigon, consul general of the Republic of Slovenia based in Cleveland; and Cecilia Dolgan leading the audience sing-along, accompanied by Anthony Culkar on accordion.
"I enjoyed watching the younger folks singing and dancing. That was fun," said Milly Mikus of Willoughby Hills, who added that she really enjoyed the accordion players.
"The pastries and kielbasa were really good, too," said her friend, Marge Germousek of Mentor.
Luka Zibelnik, a Slovenian language professor at Lakeland, said the festival was not only for the Slovenian community and students, but a way to showcase some new developments.
Lakeland recently added Slovenian language courses to the curriculum, Zibelnik said. He said the addition is part of the Center for Slovenian Studies at Cleveland State University, which was established by the Slovenian government, CSU and Lakeland.
"The Slovenian community here is very, very old," he said. "A lot of them still keep the Slovenian way of doing things. This festival was to show Slovenians, students at Lakeland and those around here what Slovenia is all about."
Source: http://www.news-herald.com/articles/2009/04/25/news/nh808754.txt
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