The Bremond Chamber of Commerce is busy getting ready for the large crowd that will come to celebrate Bremond’s rich Polish heritage at Polski Dzien (Polish Day) XXIV on Saturday, June 25, 2011. This year’s festival will feature delicious Polish food served by several new vendors and plenty of foot-stomping Polish music by Dr. Jim Mazurkiewicz, Brian Marshall and friends.
There will be a Polish Day Beauty Pageant for girls and boys on Friday, the evening before Polski Dzien at the Bremond ISD cafetorium starting at 7:00 PM with entertainment provided by Nashville recording artist, Becky Lanham. Saturday’s festivities start early with the Polish Pickle Run at 8:00 AM and the Kids 1K run immediately after the adult run.
Arts & crafts and food booths will open early Saturday morning. Shirts, caps, flags, koozies, polish pottery, amber rosaries, polish folk dolls and much more will be available from Texas Slav & German Boutique at their warehouse on Main Street. The Polish Food Store from Houston will also have Polish themed t-shirts and other merchandise at their food booth.
There will be lots of fun for the kids with a petting zoo, pony rides, train rides and a Kid’s Zone with water slides and a slip-n-slide. The big parade with lots of Polish themed floats starts at St. Mary’s Catholic Church at 10:00 AM and makes its way downtown. Other events for Saturday include judging of the barbecue and chili entries, 42-tournament, horseshoes, washers and volleyball
There should be plenty of good Polish food for everyone this year. Andrzej and Sharon Szpak from Polonia Restaurant in Houston will be serving their delicious Polish food from a booth on Main Street. Texas Slav & German Boutique will be teaming up with The Green Molly out of Austin to provide family style Polish food all day long in their warehouse on Main Street. Cathy Penick will be serving Polish food at the Coal Mine Restaurant, just a few blocks from the festival site and Bremond Video & Ice Cream Parlor will also have Polish food this year in air-conditioned store on Main Street.
Be sure and stop by the air-conditioned Bremond Historical Museum and buy a ticket for a quilt made from old Pickle Run t-shirts that will be raffled off by the historical society. The Polish Genealogical Society of Texas will have a table inside the musuem with lots of information on Polish family research in Texas.
Musical entertainment will be provided under the big tent from about 11am to 4pm. Dr. Jim Mazurkiewicz will be playing old time Polish music on his concertina along with Mark Hopcus and James Mazurkiewicz. Charles Nemec Band featuring Harold Strand will also play Polka music under the tent. At around 4pm in the Texas Slav & German Boutique, Polish danceband fiddler Brian Marshall, along with sons Jakub and Michal and some talented friends, will entertain the crowd with his own brand of old time Polish music, including some of Bremond born fiddler Steve Okonski’s old songs.
A Polka Mass will be held at 6:30 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. and the long day ends with a street dance from 9 pm to 1 am with music by the Route 4 Band from Brenham.
Below is a slide show of photos from last years Polski Dzien:
James Smock has always held an interest in his Polish ancestors and heritage. He is a native Houstonian with Polish roots in Bremond, Marlin and New Waverly, Texas.