Polonia on Parade

Polonia on Parade

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Apr 11th 2007, 12:18pm By Dave Staba

Leaving the annual Dyngus Day bash at St. Stanislaus Parish early Monday evening, my 3-year-old son had two questions as we waited to cross Fillmore Avenue:

“Can I have an accordion?”

Then, “Can we go to another party?”

And so it begins.

Jackson had been understandably captivated by the enthusiastic playing and determined singing of Stephanie Pietrzak (also known as “America’s Polka Sweetheart”) and Her Honky Band, which more than lived up to its name.

A bellyful of Faygo Red Pop had him ready to continue the celebration, so we headed over to the Central Terminal, where Buffalo’s first Dyngus Day parade ended a few hours earlier.

As we drove through the neighborhood, I told him that one of his grandfathers grew up playing on those streets. As we walked up to the Central Terminal, I told him his other grandfather once got on a train there that took him all the way across the country.

parade2.jpg It was about 8 p.m. by the time we walked into the station. Things were thinning out and they’d cut the price of admission from $8 to $5. By that point, Jackson looked to be the only person under 25, but he didn’t seem to mind while getting another dose of polka.

Judging from the crowd inside St. Stan’s and the ones spilling out of other traditional Dyngus Day hot spots like the Adam Mickiewicz Library and Artie's, the addition of the parade and Central Terminal party helped bring even more people into the neighborhood for the annual celebration, with plenty hitting more than one place. parade3.jpg Broadway Fillmore Alive has extensive coverage of the event, including a slideshow by Chris Byrd, other photos by Byrd and Mike Gilhooly and video from the parade and Terminal festivities from wnymedia.net.

As demonstrated each year on the Sunday closest to St. Patrick's Day, Buffalo's quite good at this whole springtime parade thing. This one brought plenty of people into part of the city they rarely visit, or even think about, as shown in the picture above, courtesy of traffic reporter Air Gordon of WBEN and Star 102.5.

Next year, we'll get there earlier. And maybe bring an accordion.

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  1. platt4

    0 ratings12345
    Apr 11th 2007, 13:22

    Wait- two posts about the east side in one day?

    Report this

  2. nicoleshoe

    0 ratings12345
    Apr 12th 2007, 11:12

    fantastic post. i love the photos. i went and it was fabulous. so proud of this city!

    Report this

  3. Buffalopundit

    0 ratings12345
    Apr 12th 2007, 16:01

    Air Gordon needs a flickr account

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