Bremond Texas, known as the Polish Capital of Texas, celebrated their 26th annual Polski Dzien or Polish Day and the 25th annual Polish Pickle Run on Saturday, June 22, 2013. People with Polish roots from all over Texas attended the event. The main Polski Dzien celebration is held on Saturday, but there was plenty of activity in downtown Bremond on Friday evening including a free street dance with music by Jerry Haisler and the Melody 5 and live rock, folk and country music with Denise Gouge and friends at their warehouse in downtown Bremond.
The Polski Dzien celebration started early on Saturday morning with rows of vendors setting up their booths on Main Street. The day officially started at 8:00 am with the 25th annual Polish Pickle Run, a 5K run for adults and a 1K run for the kids. There are more and more runners each year for this popular event and this year was no exception with a record number of runners signed up. Each participant received a beautifully designed 25th year t-shirt featuring a running jar of pickles.
As they crossed the finish line, the runners were greeted with cold piwo, kielbasa, watermelon, assorted fruit and lots of other refreshments. After the race, a raffle drawing for a heifer calf and bales of hay was held and awards were handed out in front of the Bremond Press building. The awards consisted of cash, medals and jars of official Polish Pickle Run pickles.
A large, enthusiastic crowd gathered along Main Street about 10:30 am as the long parade started at St. Mary’s Church and slowly made its way downtown. There were Polish, Texas and US flags everywhere and lots of Polish themed floats and vehicles in this years parade along with politicians, motorcycles, vintage cars, fire trucks, tractors and horses.
There was plenty of good Polish food this year as Texas Slav & German Warehouse, Bremond Video and Ice Cream Parlor, Groholski’s and others served pierogi, gołąbki, kielbasa and other delicious Polish foods. There was no shortage of ice cold piwo available to go with the food.
The air-conditioned Bremond Historical Museum building was a nice place to cool off while looking over the historical exhibits about Bremond. A 42 domino tournament was held along with horseshoe, washers, three-on-three basketball and volleyball games and lots of other activities throughout the day. The kids had a special area with inflated bouncers, water slides and a train ride.
Right after the parade, Dr. Jim Mazurkiewicz’s Polska Kapela band entertained the crowd under a large tent filled with tables and chairs so people could sit, eat and listen to the music. The band played old time Polish Music sprinkled with a history lesson or two from Dr. Jim from 11:00 a.m. until 3 p.m. The musicians included Mark Hopcus, CJ Jozwiak, Frank Motley, James Mazurkiewicz, Charlie Brossman, Ronnie Kasowski, Jake Kasowski, Jakub Marshall, Michal Marshall, Kyle Berger and Jim Mazurkiewicz. US Congressman Bill Flores and State Representative Kyle Kacal came by to greet the crowd and stayed to listen to the good Polish music.
Around 3 pm in the Texas Slav & German Warehouse’s new dance hall on Main Street, Polish danceband fiddler Brian Marshall led an all-star cast of musicians in an evening long musical extravaganza of traditional Polish music along with some old country tunes and even a little rock and roll thrown in for good measure. Musicians and singers included Brian Marshall, Jakub Marshall, Michal Marshall, Ronnie Kasowski, Chuck Bolin, Jake Kasowski, Mark Rubin, Bradley Jay Williams, Frank Motley, Denise Gouge, Eddie Marshall, Jimmy Mazurkiewicz, Ronnie Dutka, Charlie Brossman, Mike Stinnett, Jay Borne and Kyle Berger. Kim Patke was the evenings dance director and she showed her talent by directing the first ever Bremond Follow The Leader Polish dance.
The long day ended with a street dance from 9 pm to 1 am with music by The Crossroads Band.
A big thanks to the Bremond Chamber of Commerce and everyone who worked so hard to make this Polski Dzien the best ever and a personal thanks to my good friend Dr. Marcin Zieliński for taking all of the nice photos and videos of the event.
Below are a few photos of the fun and there is a slideshow of many more Saturday photos on page 2. and a slideshow of Friday photos on page 3. There are a few music videos in the Polish Texans Video section or you can see more videos on our YouTube Channel.
Friday slideshow on page 3.
Music Videos
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.