From Parade Director, Bernadette Pawlak:
March 5, 2012 – Organizers of Buffalo, New York’s annual Dyngus Day Parade invite social groups, ethnic organizations, schools, marching & polka bands, dancers and performers to participate in the annual Dyngus Day Parade. The parade will take place at 5pm on Monday, April 9th.
Buffalo’s Dyngus Day Parade will march through the Historic Polonia District passing numerous official Dyngus Day Buffalo celebrations including those at Central Terminal, St. Stanislaus Church, Corpus Christi Church, Arty’s Grill, Pussywillow Park and the Adam Mickewicz Library and Dramatic Circle. Parade organizers anticipate more than 150 parade entries and over 50,000 spectators this year.
“You don’t need to be Polish to participate as ‘Everyone’s Polish on Dyngus Day’,” explains 2012 Parade Director Bernadette Pawlak. “In addition to promoting Polish pride, the parade is a community-wide celebration of spring and things that are unique to Western New York…like Dyngus Day.”
Parade entry applications are available on-line at www.DyngusDayBuffalo.com. The deadline for parade entries is 5pm on April 2nd, 2012. Completed applications or people interested in volunteering are to contact Dyngus Day Parade Director Bernadette Pawlak at BernadettePawlak@gmail.com or to Dyngus Day Parade, Attn: Bernadette Pawlak, 54 Arend Avenue, Williamsville, New York 14221.
A Polish-American tradition, Dyngus Day celebrates the end of the restrictive observance of Lent and the joy of Easter. Over the decades, Buffalo, New York has become the Dyngus Day Capital of the World attracting thousands of people from across the northeast United States. Although celebrated in Buffalo’s Polonia neighborhood since the arrival of the first Poles in the 1870s, the city’s first modern Dyngus Day celebration was held 51 years ago by the Chopin’s Singing Society, a tradition that continues today. Dyngus Day Buffalo, the provider of marketing and organizational support to area celebrations was founded in 2005. Dyngus Day 2012 will take place on Monday, April 9th .
