MILWAUKEE – Lively music filled the air at Henry Maier Festival Park Saturday afternoon, serenading hundreds of festival-goers streaming through the gates to take in day two of Polish Fest. The second cultural festival of the summer featured cooking demonstrations, long lines for pierogis, and a chance for vendors to show off their skills.
One of those vendors was Alena Wadzinske, who was practicing the Polish cultural tradition of pysanky – decorating eggs with beeswax. Wadzinske told WTMJ she has a personal connection to the art
“It’s a tradition I learned from my babcia – my grandma – when I was in pre-K,” Wadzinske said. “It’s something that I have continued and plan to continue to practice for the rest of my life.”
The process of pysanky involves applying patterns of hot beeswax and then soaking the egg in dye – repeating it multiple times to create intricate patterns. Wadzinske said she works on raw eggs and removes the yolk once she’s done with the wax.
“I am really proud of my Polish culture and I’m really grateful to have learned this,” she said.
Jean Wroblewski isn’t making the pottery she sells here in the US – in fact, it can only be made back in Poland near the city of Boleslawiec
“The pottery is made from clay that is unique to Poland, you can’t find it anywhere else in the world,” she said.
Wroblewski works with the Polish Women’s Cultural Club or Polanki, which uses the funds from selling the pottery to pay for a number of programs they have to support the Polish community in Milwaukee.
“We’ve done restorations of the basilica, the conservatory, supported the Polish Center of Wisconsin – we operate the library there,” she said. “So we have a lot of hands in the pot for what we can do for the community.”
Wroblewski said Polanki also offers scholarships for students of Polish descent.
Polish Fest is open Sunday for the last day of the three-day cultural festival. It will be open from noon to 7 p.m.
TOP HEADLINES FROM THE 620 WTMJ NEWS TEAM:
- Rare occurrence as two corpse flowers bloom at once at Mitchell Park Domes
- Milwaukee County launches new website for RNC questions
- Alverno College lays off 37, restructures majors and programs
- DNC putting up 10 Milwaukee-area billboards in response to Trump’s alleged “horrible city” comment
- Local business to bring a ‘floating sauna’ to Lake Michigan
- 9-year-old shot, killed on Milwaukee’s Northwest side
