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After World War II, a large contingent of Ukrainians sought refuge in Utica, where they established St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Catholic Church in 1951. Zyn Jackiw, church trustee and chair of the church’s annual Ukrainian festival, said that his parents were among that wave of refugees.
“I’m just proud of it, and it’s something that I cherish,” Jackiw said of his heritage.
This year’s festival will take place from noon to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday at the church hall at 6 Cottage Place.
Admission is free, and like last year, all proceeds from food and raffle sales will go towards those affected by the ongoing war in Ukraine, a conflict that began when Russia invaded the country in February 2022.
“The purpose of the festival, actually, is to assist with humanitarian aid and assistance to Ukrainians back home, and all the monies have been earmarked for that specific purpose,” Jackiw said. “We’ve done that since the hostilities have started, and we’ll continue doing it as long as necessary and as long as possible. We’ve coordinated with individual people in Ukraine, and we’ve been sending them medical supplies, money, whatever we can do to assist in the war effort overseas.”
Cooking with kinship, singing with many voices
Church members and other volunteers have been making hundreds of varenyky, the Ukrainian version of pierogis, and cabbage rolls in the church kitchen in the weeks leading up to the festival. Jackiw said that they will have between 10,000 and 12,000 varenyky and between 800 and 1,000 cabbage rolls available for sale at the festival.
Parishioner Gloria Jakubowski has been helping to prepare those traditional dishes for the festival, as well as for the church’s weekly fall food sale, for around 15 years. Jakubowski’s mother immigrated to the United States in the early 1950s; Jakubowski was separated from her mother during WWII, and lived with her grandparents until she was able to join her mother in America.
“Everybody in that church is Ukrainian,” Jakubowski said. “Everybody knows how to make pierogies and stuffed cabbage. It’s a tradition that’s been passed down for generations and generations from Ukraine.”
In addition to the food, the festival will feature performances by Ukrainian dancers and musicians. The New York City-based dance troupe Yunist and world-famous Ukrainian-Canadian violinist Vasyl Popadiuk will be traveling to Utica to share their traditional art forms with attendees.
“We really try to emphasize our Ukrainian culture, so we have nice, quality Ukrainian entertainment coming,” Jackiw said.
Utica-based professional violinist and church cantor Taras Bohach will be singing traditional Ukrainian folk songs at the festival, some of which have been around for centuries.
He learned many of those songs as a university student in his hometown, Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine. Bohach found community within a large school performing group, singing and playing the violin with his friends.
“If we had some parties, we learned a lot of nice, good songs that were really fun for us to sing with the many voices,” Bohach said. “It’s a really cool thing to do. So that’s what inspires me. It’s just my entire life in there.”
Ukrainian Uticans feel compelled to act
Bohach’s brother, nephews, in-laws and a number of friends still live in Lviv. Although the western city is some distance from the frontlines of the war, Bohach said that it’s not necessarily a safe area because the Russians bomb the whole country.
“All people feel the reality of what’s going on with the war, and the entire country is helping each other and supporting each other,” Bohach said.
Although Jackiw, the festival chair, does not personally have relatives living in Ukraine, he has developed relationships with individuals and military units in the country that the church has been supporting.
In addition to the proceeds from the festival, St. Volodymyr has been donating funds from their weekly food sales to the war effort overseas.
Jackiw and other church members visited Ukraine over the summer to bring supplies and meet with individuals and units the church has been supporting since the beginning of the war. He said that the church received a Ukrainian flag from a unit on the eastern front signed with all the unit member’s names as a token of appreciation.
“We want to be sure that we, as Ukrainians, having a close tie to our homeland, assist our brothers and sisters as much as possible,” Jackiw said.
Jakubowski, whose uncle and cousins still live in Ukraine, said that the church is also currently sponsoring Ukrainian families in Utica who fled the war. The church contributed to providing housing, food and clothing for these families when they arrived to help them make homes in the area.
“Way back, the families stayed because the children were happy and settled, so they never went back. So we’re hoping for the same thing,” Jakubowski said.
In addition to food and music, the festival will feature cold Ukrainian beer and a vendor from Maryland who will sell intricate Ukrainian embroidery.
Jackiw, Jakubowski and Bohach all feel a strong kinship with their Ukrainian siblings across the globe.
“We are so united that we can’t stay on the side,” Bohach said. “Everyone does what they are able to.”