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The 36th annual Birmingham Ethnic Festival, set for Saturday and Sunday Aug. 14
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Visitors to the annual Birmingham Ethnic Festival may find
themselves in a pickle trying to decide what to eat, see and do
first. Pickle-eating contests for local celebrities and for the
general public are among the many events planned for this year’s
festival. (Press photo by Ken Grojsean)
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and 15, offers festivalgoers a trip to the Old Country, highlighting Hungarian music, food and heritage.
The actual festival will be held Sunday from noon to 9 p.m. on Consaul Street in Toledo’s Birmingham neighborhood, but there are plenty of pre-festival events planned for those anxious to get the celebration started.
Pre-festival events planned for Saturday include a children’s craft center, a Hungarian folk mini dance workshop for children, the Annual Waiter’s Race, a Tanchaz (Hungarian dance gathering), and the Celebrity Pickle-Eating Contest. A variety of food and beverages will be available.
The children’s craft center will be held Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. outside of Calvin United Church of Christ, at 1946 Bakewell St. For $5, children will receive a passport that will be stamped for each craft they complete. The crafts will feature seasonal Hungarian customs, including Mardi Gras masks, Easter egg-shaped cookies, Hungarian girls’ headpieces and boys’ hats, cornstalk dolls, and palacsinta (crepes). There will be a display of folk art eggs and a folkdance instruction for children at 5:30 p.m. Prizes will be raffled off for the children.
The Annual Waiter’s Race will be held Saturday at 7 p.m. In the European tradition, teams of wait staff from neighborhood taverns and non-profit organizations will compete in the relay race on Consaul Street.
A Tanchaz dance gathering will be held Saturday outside of Calvin United Church of Christ from 6 to 10 p.m. Tanchaz will be also held on Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. outside of the VFW Post 4906, 2161 Consaul St.
The renowned Gyanta Band will perform on both Saturday and Sunday. The band, which showcases musicians from Toronto and Montreal, studies and performs selections from Hungary and the surrounding Hungarian minority regions. The band will also provide music during the children’s mini dance workshop prior to Tanchaz as well as the music during the Tanchaz.
The world-famous Tony Packo’s restaurant will hold the Celebrity Pickle-Eating Contest Saturday at 6 p.m. on Tony Packo’s/St. Stephen’s parking lot. A Pickle-Eating Contest for the public will be held Sunday at 4 p.m. on St. Stephen’s parking lot.
Magyar Marketing will be selling specialty Hungarian items such as cookbooks, CDs and T-shirts Saturday on the lot of Calvin United Church of Christ and on the mall on Sunday.
Festivalgoers will find crafters galore on Genesee Street. Among the wares that will be showcased are traditional Hungarian porcelain dolls, birdhouses, jewelry, quilts and sand art. Get a glimpse into your future from Gypsy fortuneteller, Madame Onella, who will have a booth on the festival mall.
A cultural booth will be open on Sunday featuring the old Ironville neighborhood of Birmingham along with displays from the Birmingham Cultural Center archives.
Don’t go away hungry
Throughout the festival, there will be food, food and more food.
VFW Post 4906 will serve their famous perch dinner, along with shrimp and frog legs, Friday Aug. 13. The post will be serving hamburgers Saturday.
On Sunday, St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, the Hungarian Club of Toledo and Calvin United Church of Christ will feature their famous chicken paprikas and kolbasz dinners along with Hungarian pastries, paprikas noodles and gravy, kolbasz sandwiches, stuffed cabbage and szalonna sütes.
The VFW will be serving pigs-in-the-blanket, bratwurst, chicken paprikas, cabbage and noodles, tacos and szalonna sütes.
There will also be plenty of street vendor fare available, including potato pancakes, pierogi, chicken and Greek sausage pitas, curly fries, grilled chicken, cotton candy, pizza and gelato ice cream.
Admission to the Birmingham Ethnic Festival is free. Street parking is available on the perimeter of the neighborhood bounded by Front, York and Wheeling streets. Handicapped parking is available in the lot behind the fire station at Consaul and Front streets.
For more information, call 419-205-1448 or visit www.birminghamfestival.org.
Visitors to the annual Birmingham Ethnic Festival may find themselves in a pickle trying to decide what to eat, see and do first. Pickle-eating contests for local celebrities and for the general public are among the many events planned for this year’s festival. (Press photo by Ken Grojsean)
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