Oh, by the way, an update on my list of festivals I want to attend this year: I missed RiverSplash and Pridefest, but I made it to Polish Fest. Not a very good Hit/Miss ratio, but at least I’ve gone to something, right?

Polish Fest was… okay. There was some interesting stuff for sure, but the day we went, there wasn’t a ton going on. We went last week Friday, the very first day of the festival. It was 50 cents to get in between Noon a 5 PM because that’s basically their, “We haven’t bothered to schedule anything worthwhile for this time period” part of the festival. 50 cents is way better than $8 though, so why not.

Polish Fest is probably the only one I’ll manage to talk family members into going to, because my family is very Polish. Like, we’re the sort of Polish people that are totally A-OK with branding ourselves as Polacks. So my aunt, my cousin, my mother, my little sister, and the girlfriend all went to Polish Fest. We ate food, did some shopping, listened to some polka, and not a whole lot more.

My mom and my sister wanted to see some of the Polish dancers in action, but those events weren’t until later in the evening. We had to make due with seeing some frighteningly limber elderly folks waltzing away to polkas aplenty. That didn’t last long, we pretty much just watched that when we sat down to eat lunch. Kishka, pierogies, crepes, the usual. The girlfriend had some Krupnik, which I am pretty sure she ordered on accident because she wanted mead but there was a sign for krupnik at the mead stand. The event program said they had mead, but it turned out that they didn’t. Which was hella lame, but what can you do?

I didn’t buy much when we went shopping. I bought a magnet because my fridge is in dire need of them, Pole-themed or otherwise. I also bought a cookbook, Treasured Polish Recipes for Americans, largely for the novelty. I might make one or two things out of it, but I pretty much bought it for show. There’s some righteously disgusting recipes in there… but there are also some good ones. Who knew kishka was so easy to make?

I briefly considered buying a novelty t-shirt… but my love for completely corny and pointless things only goes so far. I couldn’t bring myself to wear a shirt that says “You bet your dupa I’m Polish” or “I only like her for her pierogies.” That’s a level of awful I’ve not yet reached.

I wanted to check out the tent dedicated to St. Josaphat’s Basilica, a Polish church here in Milwaukee, but didn’t get the chance because everyone was started to get bored (or ill) at that point and all wandered off in different directions. In the interest of not losing every single member of my family I stuck with at least one person. So, I didn’t see it. I suppose I didn’t necessarily need to see it, either. I know about it rather well already. My grandparents were married there, so I took an interest in it pretty early on. It’s a neat place. If you want to see a picture of its absolutely beautiful interior, click through the ‘read more’ link at the bottom of this post.

That’ really I have to talk about regarding Polish Fest. I would’ve had a far more entertaining experience had I gone Saturday night, but that’s alright. There’s always next year! My next destination is SummerFest, and while I said I might go to Bastille Days on my festival post, I probably won’t. I don’t remember that one being very good. So instead, after SummerFest I’m awaiting GermanFest starting July 23rd. We’ll see how that goes!

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