Photos & Videos from the Toronto, Montreal & Buffalo Ukrainian Festivals (Big Update)

Here are some highlights from last week’s Toronto & Buffalo Ukrainian Festivals. I apologize for the lateness as I’ve been dealing with an internet outage (still ongoing) and it’s tough to get these uploaded without it!

If you want to relive almost the entire festival, watch this massive collection of videos:

And here’s my Toronto/Buffalo Festival video recap which pales in comparison:

Toronto Festival pictures:

Here are a few select photos from Facebook (Albums one and two):

Buffalo Festival pictures:

Ukrainian festivals on both sides of the border this weekend

This weekend is your chance to celebrate Ukrainian culture on both sides of the border as Toronto and Buffalo put on their annual festivals:

tuf_logo[1]Toronto Ukrainian Festival
Friday, Sept 16th – Sunday, Sept 18th, 2011
Bloor Street, between Jane and Runnymede

Discover Ukrainian culture in Canada and share the Ukrainian spirit at North America’s Largest Ukrainian Street Festival. This is your opportunity to experience Ukrainian culture and hospitality at its best. As always there will be non-stop entertainment with Ukrainian performers from the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, the USA and Ukraine which will include dancers, vocalists and musicians. Don’t miss the YOUTH segment on the grand stage at Jane Street! And if you wish – join the dancing at the evening ZABAVA/Street Dance on both Friday and Saturday.

You will find vendor kiosks: delicious authentic Ukrainian food and beverages, beautiful souvenirs, interactive pavilions, and more. This year you can also enjoy SIDEWALK SALE shopping at the local Bloor West Village businesses. There is a midway for kids and youth. Take in the colourful parade on Saturday morning at 11am and a new attraction this year is the Film Festival being held at the Runnymede Library (Sat) and The Village Playhouse (Sun).

More info

 

Buffalo Ukrainian Festival
Sunday, Sept 18th, 2011 Noon – 7PM
St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church Hall – 3275 Elmwood Ave.,  Kenmore, NY 14217

Dance music, traditional dance performances, indoor & outdoor seating, delicious food, scrupulous deserts, theme baskets, select vendors, indoor & outdoor and more.

More info

I will be attending both festivals this year, and will try to take lots of pictures and videos which I haven’t gotten much of a chance to do recently. Hope you can make it out!

Time for Shkola – Ukrainian school begins!

With the start of the school season, many Ukrainian language and cultural schools in Canada open for registration, Saturday schools to full day and lanuage-instructional classes.

Below are a list of some of the schools that are offering them, find your area on the map and look for nearby dots that you can click on for more information. You can also view the schools in table view:

If you have more, please leave me a comment below and I will add it.

It’s Pierogies vs Perogies at this year’s Ex, but something’s missing

The Canadian National Exhibition (also known as ‘the Ex’) is an end-of-summer tradition in Toronto with its assortment of games, rides, and new deep fried foods. I returned to the Ex after reporting on my first encounter with the ‘Perogie Chef’ stand three years ago where I met the owner Boris Hirniak who was serving me. A popular figure among the Ex, now residing in Brampton he used to commute from Winnipeg to his booth every year to serve his varenyky, holubtsi and kovbasa (sometimes in burger form) from his Baba’s recipes.

When I came back to the booth this year, it was exactly how it was three years ago like many of the booths that had occupied the food building for decades. I asked for Boris again in an attempt to a proper interview for the site, but I was shocked to learn that he had passed away:

Midway through last year’s Exhibition, Hirniak was diagnosed with lung cancer. He died Nov. 28.

…

"We used to call him the Ukrainian don," Thurber said.

He was well-loved outside the Exhibition, too, whether he was staffing the bar at his wife’s pub or acting as marshal at the local golf course.

"Guys used to have arguments, and they would come to him. And whichever side he chose, that went," Thurber said.

Hirniak would celebrate his Aug. 29 birthday each year at the perogy stand. This upcoming year would have marked two milestones: his 65th birthday and his 25th year in the food building.

Read the rest of the article

His wife ran the booth the following year, but passed away soon after as well. Now the booth is run by a family friend who luckily hasn’t changed a thing:

  

If you’re lucky you just might find their brand of perogies in your local grocery store:

And while the line for this booth can get real busy, across the Ex’s food building is another vendor to try: Supreme Pierogies & Cabbage Rolls.

The Ex runs until Labour Day Monday, let me know in the comments if you get a chance to go. And as they say, smachnoho!

Ukraine celebrates 20 years of independence–its longest, but for how much longer?

Ukraine today marks 20 years of independence.

President Viktor Yanukovych will take part in ceremonies in Kyiv. 

Amid a budgetary squeeze, a planned military parade in the Ukrainian capital was scrapped to save $20 million. 

Read the rest of the article

Only Yanukovych’s planned celebrations are allowed in Kyiv, while any others were banned. Democracy and justice remain fleeting in the country:

Over 5,000 opposition activists rallied Wednesday on the 20th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union, protesting the arrest of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and demanding early elections.

Demonstrators, many of them clad in traditional Ukrainian white embroidered shirts, attempted to march on the president’s office, but were held back by police in riot gear who flooded the city’s center.

Read the rest of the article

Tymoshenko, on trial for abuse of office during her time as prime minister, had requested parole for two days to be able to visit her mother in the east of the country and celebrate with her Ukraine’s independence anniversary. Ukraine’s independence from the Soviet Union is celebrated on Aug. 24.

Read the rest of the article

She was denied her request.

Meanwhile the secret service claim to be thwarting mystery terrorists:

Ukraine’s state security service said yesterday it had foiled a bomb attack in the capital Kiev after detaining three people it said were involved in the plot.

The SBU said the attack had been planned for August 24th, the former Soviet republic’s independence day.

…

The SBU said in a statement it had prevented a “terrorist act” after its operatives found a homemade explosive device stuffed with nails when they raided premises rented by the suspects.

It had found 100 “extremist” leaflets but it gave no details on the suspects’ nationality or their affiliation.

Read the rest of the article

Is this the work of known extremists, or the creation of crisis to quell dissent during demonstrations?

And finally David Marples does a good job describing Ukraine’s issues as a whole from the past 20 years:

Despite difficulties, the economy has returned to positive growth. And, the mere fact of survival is an achievement, the longest period of independence in modern Ukrainian history.

It is impossible, however, to avoid an impression of fading optimism.

On the eve of Independence Day, the government banned any public demonstrations other than the official celebration.

Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister and a co-leader of the 2004 Orange Revolution, remains on trial for making a 2008 gas deal with Russia, despite coming down with a debilitating illness. Her one-time ally and former president Viktor Yushchenko testified against her at the trial, further testimony to the disintegration of the democratic forces.

The president, Viktor Yanukovych, has filled the cabinet with cronies from the Donbas region, few of whom even speak Ukrainian. He appears every inch the Soviet bureaucrat, thuggish and vindictive, and actively using the security forces against his enemies.

The failure to live up to early expectations can be attributed to several factors.

Read the rest of the article

Happy Independence Day!

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