Saint Mary’s Parish on West Elm Street holds an annual Polish Festival and this year’s edition will be held on Sunday, June 8th from noon to 6:00 p.m. Below is a little history of the festival, along with the details, from parish member Pat Skiba:
On the morning of March 17, members of St. Mary’s parish were busy mashing potatoes in the church kitchen. But it wasn’t in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. Rather, these volunteers were starting culinary preparations for the parish’s annual Polish festival, whose biggest draw has always been the homemade food.
“We made over 5700 pierogi and over 1300 golabki last year, and sold out every last one,” said Pat Monastero, the kitchen organizer. Also, parish members will turn their attention to preparing golabki (stuffed cabbage) and making homemade kapusta (sauerkraut) to go with the hundreds of pounds of kielbasa that will be served. There will also be homemade chrusciki (Polish bowtie cookies), along with babkas, and assorted desserts. In addition to the Polish foods, meatball sandwiches and hotdogs will be available.
This year’s festival will be held on Sunday, June 8, 2014 from noon to 6:00 pm in the parish hall. As always, the event is free and open to the public. There will be live music throughout the afternoon with plenty of space on the dance floor for those who want to show off their polka skills. The festival will also feature activities for children and games of chance for adults, as well as a silent auction, Jardo, and a raffle of themed prize-baskets.
Long-time Conshohocken residents may remember that in earlier years, the festival was always held outdoors, under a giant tent that would span the parish’s parking lot on Maple Street. But once the parish hall was air conditioned, the decision was made to move the festival indoors.
The festival serves as one of the parish’s main fundraisers for the year. According to St. Mary’s pastor, Msgr. Gerard Mesure, the proceeds will be designated for the perpetual care of the parish’s cemetery, St. Benedict’s, located on Colwell Lane.
