For 60th Year, Festival Bringing Pierogies, Polkas, And Polish Pride To Bucks

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The Polish-American Festival and Country Fair is celebrating its 60th anniversary with two big weekends of ethnic fun, food, and entertainment on the grounds of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa in New Britain Township.

Kicking off on Labor Day weekend, the festival is scheduled to run from noon to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, Sept. 5, 6, and 7 (Labor Day Weekend), and again on Sept. 12 and 13 at 654 Ferry Road, Doylestown 18901.

The public is invited to celebrate traditional Polish culture with live entertainment, arts and crafts, re-enactments, ethnic foods, midway rides, and more.

(Jeff Werner/Patch)

(Jeff Werner/Patch)

Attracting more than 25,000 visitors a year, the festival is the region’s largest Polish American festival. At the festival, guests can enjoy a variety of amusement rides and continuous live entertainment on two outdoor stages.

The festival showcases award-winning polka and disco polo bands as well as Polish folk dance groups from across the United States and Canada. An entertainment schedule appears below.

To kick off the festival, Polish recording artist Adam Chrola will be performing on the Village Stage on Saturday, Sept. 5 from 12 to 4 p.m.

A much-anticipated part of the festival is a performance by the Polish American String Band on Sunday, Sept. 13. The music begins at 12:45 p.m. and continues until 2:30 p.m. at the Pavilion stage.

The festival will also feature performances by the Jelski Family Ensemble, The Little Circus, and visiting Polish Folk Dance Groups - PKM (Philadelphia), Janosik (Philadelphia),
Galopka (Passaic, NJ), and Wislanie (Baltimore, MD).

Visitors to the festival will also witness demonstrations by historical re-enactors, daily shows of Polish traditions, and a craft village.

One of the most delicious ways to enjoy the festival is to sample the wide variety of Polish cuisine available for purchase. The festival menu includes smoked and grilled kielbasa, pierogi, potato pancakes (placki), stuffed cabbage rolls, pastries, and Polish beer.

Festival favorites such as funnel cake, hot dogs, chicken fingers, and water ice are also available. Also featured at the festival will be a Polish Vodka Tasting experience.

New additions to the menu this year include a much-loved Polish “street food” - the zapiekanka. A zapiekanka is a slice of baguette or other toasted piece of bread topped with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and cheese and garnished with ketchup. Get your warm zapiekanka at the Gołabki Booth (Stuffed Cabbage Booth).

Sweet Polish waffles known as "Gofry" have been added to this year's menu.

Another new addition this year is zapiekanka, a slice of baguette or other toasted piece of bread topped with sautéed mushrooms, onions, and cheese and garnished with ketchup.

Pierogies are always a popular choice at the festival. (Jeff Werner/Patch)

Another new addition is "gofry." A major tradition during summer holidays at the Baltic Sea and sold in many cities throughout Poland, "gofry" are sweet Polish waffles often topped with whipped cream, fruit, powdered sugar and/or syrup. In Poland, "gofry" are usually eaten as a dessert or snack rather than as a breakfast food. Get your "gofry" at the Funnel Cake Booth this year.

Admission to the festival is $15, which includes free parking, unlimited entrance to midway rides all day long (extreme rides at additional cost), stage shows and special events. Tickets can now be purchased online. For more information and complete schedules, click here.

The ‘original’ festival was a simple picnic that was held by volunteers, their families and friends during the year of the Shrine’s dedication.

The festival was the brainchild of Dr. Raymond Chase and his wife, Virginia, along with Father Michael Zembruski, the founder of the Shrine. Their idea was to create an ethnic celebration combined with an old-fashioned country fair.

Back then, events of this type were not the norm, so despite the hard work of many volunteers, questions remained as to its success. Doubts were quickly allayed when thousands of people arrived to join in the festivities at this relatively unknown shrine. Pennsylvania State Police had to be called in to handle the miles-long traffic jams.

The festival included a professional art exhibit of Polish artists, which graced the walls of a historic Bucks County barn located on the shrine grounds. In the background, strains of Chopin works could be heard continuously playing on an Aeolian grand player piano. Noted helicopter aviation pioneer and National Medal of Technology and Innovation recipient, Frank Piasecki, donated a helicopter to give rides to excited guests. The lively beat of the Polish-American String Band had many visitors toe-tapping and has remained a regular event each year.

The original festival was simply called the Annual Festival and Country Fair. But in the second year, it was renamed the Polish Festival and Country Fair, and was moved to the upper grounds where the new Shrine basilica had been built. To better accommodate the ever-increasing number of visitors, several years later the festival dates were expanded to include a second weekend. Still later, the name was shortened to simply the Polish-American Festival.

To call attention to its Polish American origin and to emphasize the family nature of the festival, in 2010 the event was again renamed to the Polish American Family Festival and Country Fair.

One of the festival’s most notable visitors over the years was President Ronald Reagan, who enjoyed Placki (Potato Pancakes) on the festival grounds.