Crafts, polka, kolbasi come to Pitt festival

Hundreds of people, most decked out in colorful traditional Slovak garb, packed the Cathedral… Hundreds of people, most decked out in colorful traditional Slovak garb, packed the Cathedral of Learning Commons Room Sunday. They feasted on stuffed cabbage, enjoyed singers and dancers, and celebrated all things Slovak.

People from all over the Pittsburgh area, which has a Slovak population higher than that of most cities, came to enjoy the 13th annual Slovak Heritage Festival. A joint effort by Pitt’s Slovak Studies Program and the Pitt Slovak Club, the festival is an expression of Pitt’s unique relationship with Slovakia.

“There isn’t any other place in the country where you can study the Slovak language,” said Christine Metil, administrator of Pitt’s Slovak department and director of the festival.

Pitt established the Slavic language program in 1985, when the First Catholic Slovak Union, along with four other Slovak fraternals, donated $500,000 to the University to sponsor an endowment for the program. Since then, the Slavic language department has held the festival every year, in order to give back to Pittsburgh’s Slavic community.

Among the tables selling decorative Hungarian eggs and Slovak-made vases and bowls, John Antonich of the Slovakaires hawked a collection of polka Christmas tunes.

“We’ve been on all the TV stations that play polka music,” he said, “and we’ve recorded 10 albums.”

The producer, director, and singer in the 10-piece, McKees Rocks-based polka outfit proudly displayed his group’s two most recent Christmas compact discs, one dedicated to midnight mass and the other to the Latin mass.

“One time, a Pittsburgh priest heard our tape,” Antonich recalled, “and he liked it so much that he took it to Rome and had it played on Vatican radio for the Pope.”

To pay for the festival, the Slovak department sold raffle tickets for a “basket of Slovakia,” filled with Slovak beer, candy and pins, along with Slovak food like haluski, or cabbage and noodles, and kolbasi. The Pitt Slovak Club contributed by sponsoring a pastry donation table, where patrons could either drop off a baked good or buy something someone donated.

“We’ll take any kind of pastry; it doesn’t have to be sweet,” said Slovak Club President Diana Pinchevsky, referring to a plate of sauerkraut bread.

This was the third time Mary Crilley and Jenny Edwards attended the Slovak Heritage Fest. Both have Slovak blood running through their veins, and Crilley is taking Slovak language classes at Pitt.

“I enjoy the dancers the most,” Edwards said, “and the shopping is good, too.”

Speaking of dancers, festival-goers were entertained by the Pittsburgh Area Slovak Ensemble cavorting near the rear of the commons room. The girls wore white dresses and bonnets trimmed with multicolored stitching, and the guys sported large, midriff-baring shirts and swung wooden axes. The 12-member dance troupe has performed traditional Slovak dances in Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C., among other places, according to Matt Pacacha, a Duquesne student and ensemble dancer.

“Our grandparents started the group 30 or 31 years ago,” fellow dancer Joe Lipchick said. “It’s a family thing – I grew up with it.”

It is important for Pitt to continue to recognize Slovak studies, Christine Metil said, because the Pittsburgh area has the nation’s largest concentration of Slovak-American citizens. The festival brings people together to share in the fellowship and pride of others with Slovak heritage.

“I believe it is a very positive thing, that way,” Metil said.