Photos, Video: Crowd Turns Out For 43rd Annual Polish Town Festival In Riverhead

RIVERHEAD, NY — Sunny, blue skies brought out a happy crowd to celebrate the 43rd Annual Polish Town Fair and Festival in Riverhead Saturday.

Presented by the Polish Town Civic Association, the event will continue Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and includes a free street fair and carnival, a wide array vendors, and mouthwatering specialties including pierogi and kielbasa.

This year's Polish Queen Alicia Sadowski was onhand Saturday, an ambassador greeting guests and even little babies.

A Polka Dance Festival will be held at Polonaise Park through 11 p.m. Saturday night, featuring music by Mike Costa & The Beat and Middlesex Express & Polka Method. Admission to the Polka festival is $13 for adults and $8 for children under 12.

Saturday's events included a flag raising, with an Honor Guard and both the national and Polish anthems sung.

Sadly, a favorite moment of the event, the traditional Polish wedding, which has taken place every year through last year, did not take place this year, due to a lack of individuals wanting to volunteer to participate, said Karen Fleischman, past PTCA president and Polish Town Fair coordinator.

"I'm heartbroken," she said, adding that she's tried for a year to organize the Polish wedding, which celebrated Polish traditions. Another beloved tradition, the children's traditional dances, has also been missing from the schedule for the past few years, since the dance group disbanded.

Fleischman, who worked for months to try and find costumes and even reached out to acting groups to try and keep the wedding ceremony intact, had tears in her voice as she talked about the loss of what she called the most meaningful part of the day — a joyful ceremony that celebrated Polish tradition.

"It's not for lack of trying. I'm not a person who gives up easily," she said. She added that if the community can come together and volunteers step forward, she will be thrilled to bring back the Polish wedding ceremony next year.

Volunteerism, she said, is flagging across the board, from fire departments to American Legions, to Boy Scouts. "It's sad," Fleishman said.

But families need to come together to celebrate the traditions and cultures that mean so much, she said.
"It's important to keep the these traditions alive in your heart and pass them down to future generations, to keep our Polish heritage alive," she said.

Photos, video by Lisa Finn.