The 3rd annual Polish Festival at Our Lady of Czestochowa Church in Houston was held on Saturday, May 2, 2009 on the church grounds in Spring Branch. A large crowd enjoyed the beautiful weather, good food, cold piwo and a wide variety of entertainment. The festival began at 10:00 am and was still going strong when I left at about 9:30 pm. I met up with a lot of old friends and made some new ones. It was pretty obvious that everybody in the large crowd was having a good time.
Houston’s 3rd Annual Polish Festival is a celebration of all things Polish – the food, the music, the language, the customs and the culture of the Polish people. The Festival is held on the grounds of Our Lady of Czestochowa Church conveniently located at 1731 Blalock Drive, in the Spring Branch area, about 1.5 miles north of the Katy Freeway. The festival will run from 10:00 am to 10:30 pm on Saturday, May 2, 2009.
Featured at the Festival is a large sampling of traditional Polish foods such as pierogi (stuffed dumplings), golabki (cabbage rolls), bigos (hunters stew) and kielbasa (sausage) and a huge assortment of traditional cakes, rolls and desserts lovingly prepared by the parishioners of Our Lady Of Czestochowa Catholic Church. There will be plenty of ice cold beverages to go along with the food.
A really talented entertainment lineup this year includes:
A traditional Cajun band with a little Polish style rocked the house at the last live performance at the Second Fiddle Bar and Grill in Chappel Hill Texas on Saturday, March 21, 2009. Cory and Lisa McCauley’s Evangeline Aces band provided the entertainment with special guest musicians Brian Marshall on the fiddle and Chuck Bolin on the drums. Brian and Chuck normally perform with the Brian Marshall and the Tex-Slavic Playboys band but they showed off their diverse musical talents by playing right along with the McCauley’s. Of course, Brian managed to sing a Polish song or two before the evening was over.
One of the best sources of information for anyone searching for their Polish ancestors in Texas is the Polish Footprints periodical published by the Polish Genealogical Society of Texas. This award wining publication contains articles to assist Texas and Polish research as well as general genealogical research, book reviews, activities of other societies and various topics helpful to the researcher of Polish ancestors.
Special editions of Polish Footprints are especially valuable since they provide in-depth coverage for a significant Polish area or community.
Now, every periodical that PGST ever produced is available in a digital format. This covers each periodical from 1984 through 2008, including special editions. Also included is a Table of Contents listing each periodical and the Surname Index for 2008-2009.
Available in DVD-ROM (1) or CD-ROM (4)
PGST is offering this for a special price of $50.00 in the format of your choice. This is a substantial savings when you consider that a hard copy of each periodical cost $6.00 or more and the Special Editions cost $14.00 each.
More information and an order form can be found on the PGST website.
What started off as a 70th birthday party for Lawrence Wisnoski in Hockley, Texas turned into a full fledged all-star musical event with different styles of Polish music, some old style Cajun music and a Tejano song or two thrown in for good measure. Brian Marshall, Ronnie Dutka and Chuck Bolin from the Brian Marshall Band, Cory McCauley from the Cory McCauley and the Evangeline Aces band and Bradley Jaye Williams, Tim Walsh and Mark Rubin from the Fabulous Polkasonics band were the primary entertainers for the evening. Other musicians and singers included Jimmy Mazurkiewicz and his son James, Brian Wisnoski and Albine Januszewski. Read the full article →
Beautiful and talented musician Lisa McCauley was recently named an honorary Polish Texan and presented a limited edition Polish Musician Search t-shirt by the Polish Texans Website. Lisa plays guitar and sings traditional Cajun songs in the Cory McCauley and the Evangeline Aces band. She proudly wore her new t-shirt when the band played at the Second Fiddle Bar and Grill in Chappell Hill, Texas on January 10, 2009
Singers and musicians from the internationally known folk group, "Slask" of Silesia, Poland will perform in South Texas December 22-29, 2008. The group has been called, "one of the grandest and most dazzling spectacles in the world."
What better way to get into the holiday spirit then to spend an evening listing to great music by well known Polish fiddler Brian Marshall and friends. Brian’s Kolendy in the Country Christmas Party was held at Second Fiddle Bar & Grill in beautiful Chappell Hill Texas on Saturday, December 6th. Second Fiddle is a small, friendly place housed in an old building not far from St. Stanislaus Catholic Church. The bar has lots of character and plenty of piwo. Daniel the chef served up bowls of good cajun etouffee as well as other spicy dishes and hamburgers and Mandy the barmaid kept busy handing out cold beer.
Brian was joined by Dennis Bielamowicz, Kevin Syzdek, Chuck Bolin, Sonny Janczak and Brian Wisnoski. James Mazurkiewicz also sang a song or two with the band. The band played lots of good Polish, country and Christmas music for the crowd. There was plenty of dancing, talking and laughing throughout the evening.
Enjoy the slide show below:
