1K Attend Fells Point Holiday Celebration in East Baltimore

The weather was mild as carolers numbering nearly 1,000 gathered at the Polish Home Club on Broadway in Baltimore's Fells Point community for East Baltimore Christmas. The event is sponsored by the Polish Community Association of Baltimore each year on December 23rd, and it runs about 2 hours with carols being performed in both Polish and English.

The carolers gather and wait with anticipation for TKO Band to perform the music for the carols with a singer who leads the songs. The path has stops throughout Fells Point, including Holy Rosary Church, Holy Cross Polish National Catholic Church and a special stop at Fells Point Square to honor fallen police officer Mike Armiger, who passed away in 1994 and who was instrumental in organizing the safety aspect of the event for many years in addition to assisting with other community activities.

When the event began over 40 years ago under the leadership of Frank Bittner the crowd was much smaller. Over time, however, and especially with good weather, the crowds have grown to incredible numbers, with this year's group being close to 1,000 carolers. Members of Ojczyzna Polish Dancers and Krakowiaki were dressed in folk costumes to even further enhance the magic of the event. With the massive size of the event this year there were some delays in traffic in the area, but no one seemed to mind, and they were excited to pull out their cell phones to capture the event. Crowds of bar patrons, area residents and visitors gathered on street corners as the carolers brought delight to all.

When the event was over the crowd returned to Polish Home Club on Broadway and to Polish National Alliance Council 21 on Eastern Avenue where the festivities continued. This year's crowd was so large that some carolers couldn't get into the parties at the Polish clubs, so they took their own party to local establishments, spreading even more cheer.

For a quick peak at the event and the size of the crowd, check out this video

that was streamed live via Facebook on the Sacred Heart of Mary Church page (Facebook.com/SHMparish). Sacred Heart of Mary is an original Polish parish in the archdiocese of Baltimore which is located in Dundalk where there is a large number of Polish residents. The church had quite a few of its parishioners present at the event and wanted to share it via Facebook with the extended community and those who could not attend, including former parishioners now living in other parts of the country and the world. The video has now been viewed almost 6,000 times and has been shared 87 times.

The members of the Polish communities of Baltimore, the Polish Community Association of Baltimore, Polish Home Club, Polish National Alliance, Ojczyzna Polish Dancers, Krakowiaki, TKO Band, Sacred Heart of Mary, Holy Rosary, and Holy Cross churches wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas as well as a Happy New Year!