Polish Festival

I personally would go during the day :) Things are different now, as they make you pay to get in. I used to park at my grandmas and walk down there but haven't been in years.

If you dont mind the shuttle from CCHS that is the best/safest bet. Other than that we have always parked in the surrounding neighborhood side streets. I hear they have "made it safer" over the years. We used to mainly go during the day anyway. Seemed to always coincide with Jamie Farr weekend. One time I stopped just for 20 pierogies and left. Have fun!

I used to love this festival. That was before they started fencing it in and it was a true street festival. Now the neighborhood has changed and there are way too many punks. I always like the pride and heritage associated with this festival. IF I go this year (doubtful), it will be during the day.

I really love the polish festival, and haven't had any issues over the past several years. We always park on lagrange, a few blocks before the festival starts (basically where ever we can find a spot) and i've always enjoyed the people watching and food. It's definitely rough around the edges, but the police presence is pretty strong and i've never not felt safe going.

Go in the morning and leave well before sunset. The shuttle is a nice option for several logistical reasons, but it also offers a little more safety.

I really doubt that you'll have problems during the day. The police have a good presence and the vendors do not want a bunch of toughs harassing their customers; hence the festival is pretty safe.

We've always used the shuttle because we don't have to worry about finding a place...and last year the shuttle bus was air conditioned which was a delightful treat after walking along the hot street for several hours with no shade.

If our police can guard a chinese rock, then they can protect a street festival..................heavy sarcasm intended !!

We made our annual trek to the Polish Festival Saturday. Parked on Lagrange - got lucky and had a spot close to the festival. Love the people watching, the music is great, the Polish beer was REALLY good but the food - Oy! - what happened to the good Polish food?

We decided on Pierogies and a cabbage rolls from the St. Hedwigs church crowd. Figured it would be awesome since it was supposedly all homemade by the folks at the church and figured the $$ goes to a good cause. We'd have enjoyed Mrs. T's pierogies more. And the cabbage rolls were not only devoid of any noticeable meat, but were nothing more than soggy rice with no flavor whatsoever. No hint of any tomato sauce anywhere. Being disappointed - and still hungry - we tried a plate of "home fries" from one of the vendors along the west side of Lagrange. Awful. Stone cold and nothing but cooking oil through and through. Tossed them into the trash and enjoyed some more Polish beer.

Should have known better but bought a supposedly home made Polish coffee cake and some Cruschikies (spelling - I have no clue) from the St. Hedwig's stand on the way out. Also disappointing. The coffee cake was simply Haas bakery Polish coffee cake without the Haas label. No way it was home made by the little old ladies from St. Hewdwig's.

Sure glad we stopped at Stanley's for a bag of kielbasa that we put on ice before heading to the festival. At least we had something good and Polish to eat when we got home.

Sorry to hate on the food but isn't that one of the main attractions at ethnic festivals? It certainly is at the German-American and Greek festivals.

At least the music and beer were great. And we'll go back next year - we'll just make sure we eat first.

Maybe I had one too many Okocim beers while I was there, but I thought the pierogi were on par with any other handmade one I've ever had. All they needed was a little salt to bring the butter and dumpling to life. I've encountered the prevalent use of non-salted butter at church festivals before; it seems to be a knee jerk reaction to so many people being placed on low sodium diets. A little salt in this case makes a huge difference.

Tried the kielbasa with kraut from Stanley's. I'm not a huge Stanley's fan but it was pretty good. Although, for the price I thought the portion was a little small.

The packzi was delicious. I try to avoid as many as possible on Fat Tuesday, but I couldn't resist in this case. Nice dense dough and a generous portion of delicious raspberry filling. As Foodie has indicated, I don't think they were made in the church basement, but someone knew what they were doing.

I wasn't there very long but I had a pretty good time and plan to go back next year.

I went last year and wasn't impressed. I cut out the middle man this year and just had my grandma make my family and I some real homemade Pierogi. It didn't cost me a dime and we got to have a good meal with my grandma and grandpa, and got to hear stories from my grandpa how Lagrange street was when he was growing up there.

i had sooooo many pierogis this weekend. they were amazing!

"Tried the kielbasa with kraut from Stanley's. I'm not a huge Stanley's fan but it was pretty good. Although, for the price I thought the portion was a little small."

What they sell at the festival is a different product from the kielbasa links you buy at the market. My preference is the fresh, handmade links from the market.

mine too. totally different

Hmmmm... I wonder what the difference is and why.

What was being sold at the festival is also available at Stanley's (as well as other stores/markets around town) - it's their "commercial" product and is pre-packaged and the links are much smaller than the links of fresh kielbasa.

You may recall that a couple of years ago Stanley's got into marketing their products outside of the store. Given the continual decline of that neighborhood, I'd say that was a wise move.

Now, for those of you who shop at Stanley's as I often do these days, I found some gold there Saturday. It's sweet pepper relish - can't recall the name exactly but it's something like "Wis Woot." It's in the refrigerated case next to the meat counter. Amazing stuff.