Ukrainian Festival 2019: How a Syracuse church feeds 12,000 people in a weekend

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SYRACUSE, N.Y. – St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church’s Ukrainian Festival is held the last weekend in July, but the work to making this summertime festival happen begins in the dead of winter.

That’s when teams of parishioners work in the kitchen, located in the church’s undercroft, and begin prepping enough food to feed the 11,000 or 12,000 people that attend the two-day festival, now in its 77th year.

The first order of business is the pyrohy (say ped-oh-heh), perhaps better known by its Polish name pierogi. The church will prepare about 13,500 of these potato dumplings—500 more than they made last year. After selling out of pyrohy by 6 p.m. Saturday at the 2018 festival, organizers increased production this year, said festival co-chair Chelsea Becher Fruscello.

The pyrohy are made in steps: One night crews will peel the potatoes. Another night they’ll cook the potatoes and prepare the filling of potato, cheese, butter, onion, salt and pepper. Then the pyrohy are assembled as tables of volunteers pinch the dumplings shut by hand. They can make up to 2,500 pyrohy a night, said Pat Burak Prusinowski, a parishioner and volunteer. The pyrohy are buttered and promptly frozen for safekeeping.

“It’s like a well-oiled machine,” Fruscello said.

They take a similarly methodical approach to thousands of holubtsi, the hand-made cabbage rolls stuffed with a mixture of beef, rice and spices. The green cabbage is first cored using both modern and closely-guarded “old folk ways,” Burak said.

Then the leaves are peeled off, steamed and allowed to drain and dry. That’s the trick to avoiding a cabbage roll that’s too wet or sloppy. Finally the beef and rice mixture is made and the holubtsi rolled. They too are frozen before being cooked during the festival.

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Along with all that, the church will make around 35 gallons of borsch, a beef-based beet and vegetable soup; 60 gallons of kapusta, a braised sauerkraut and plenty of kobasa sausage and homemade sweet breads and desserts, all washed down with more than 100 cases of imported Ukrainian beer.

Rather than looking to expand, the festival wants to perfect what they already have. In recent years they’ve added improved restrooms and tents, increased handicapped accessibility and after many years of being a cash-only operation, they now take credit cards.

“We really tried to focus on the experience of the community,” Fruscello said.

The Ukrainian community in Syracuse is largely built around three churches: St John the Baptist, First Ukrainian Pentecostal Church and Saint Luke’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, both located on Warners Road in the town of Camillus. While the churches do differ, this festival brings them together, especially with the dance groups, which are often comprised of members of all three churches, Burak said.

The food, as well, offers a taste of home.

“It’s the best Ukraine has to offer,” Burak said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone not have a good time.”

The festival will be held from 4 to 11 p.m. Friday, July 26 and from noon to 11 p.m. Saturday, July 27 behind the church at 207 Tompkins St. in Syracuse. For the full menu, entertainment schedule and other information, visit syrukrainianfest.com.

Jacob Pucci finds the best in food, dining and culture across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 282-8611, or by email at jpucci@syracuse.com.

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