Category Archives: usa

Photos & Videos from the Toronto, Montreal & Buffalo Ukrainian Festivals (Big Update)

Here are some highlights from last week’s Toronto & Buffalo Ukrainian Festivals. I apologize for the lateness as I’ve been dealing with an internet outage (still ongoing) and it’s tough to get these uploaded without it!

If you want to relive almost the entire festival, watch this massive collection of videos:

And here’s my Toronto/Buffalo Festival video recap which pales in comparison:

Toronto Festival pictures:

Here are a few select photos from Facebook (Albums one and two):

Buffalo Festival pictures:

Ukrainian festivals on both sides of the border this weekend

This weekend is your chance to celebrate Ukrainian culture on both sides of the border as Toronto and Buffalo put on their annual festivals:

tuf_logo[1]Toronto Ukrainian Festival
Friday, Sept 16th – Sunday, Sept 18th, 2011
Bloor Street, between Jane and Runnymede

Discover Ukrainian culture in Canada and share the Ukrainian spirit at North America’s Largest Ukrainian Street Festival. This is your opportunity to experience Ukrainian culture and hospitality at its best. As always there will be non-stop entertainment with Ukrainian performers from the Greater Toronto Area, Canada, the USA and Ukraine which will include dancers, vocalists and musicians. Don’t miss the YOUTH segment on the grand stage at Jane Street! And if you wish – join the dancing at the evening ZABAVA/Street Dance on both Friday and Saturday.

You will find vendor kiosks: delicious authentic Ukrainian food and beverages, beautiful souvenirs, interactive pavilions, and more. This year you can also enjoy SIDEWALK SALE shopping at the local Bloor West Village businesses. There is a midway for kids and youth. Take in the colourful parade on Saturday morning at 11am and a new attraction this year is the Film Festival being held at the Runnymede Library (Sat) and The Village Playhouse (Sun).

More info

 

Buffalo Ukrainian Festival
Sunday, Sept 18th, 2011 Noon – 7PM
St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church Hall – 3275 Elmwood Ave.,  Kenmore, NY 14217

Dance music, traditional dance performances, indoor & outdoor seating, delicious food, scrupulous deserts, theme baskets, select vendors, indoor & outdoor and more.

More info

I will be attending both festivals this year, and will try to take lots of pictures and videos which I haven’t gotten much of a chance to do recently. Hope you can make it out!

Thousands gather for annual Ukrainian Festival in Elmira Heights, NY [Article]

ScreenClipFrom Your News Network:

The annual Ukrainian Festival at St. Nicholas Church in Elmira Heights has grown exponentially

…

Sixty four years ago, the first Ukrainian Festival may have been a pretty small operation, but the lines and crowd that were on hand Sunday show that this celebration has come a long way.

…

The polka music brought crowds to the dance floor, the kid’s games were very popular but the authentic Ukrainian food trumped them all. The lines at any time throughout the day could be over 100 people long, so there had to be enough food to go around

Read the article and watch the video

It’s great to see Ukrainian festivals becoming increasingly popular in the State of New York – whether it’s Buffalo, Yonkers, the Catskills mountains, Rochester or even New York City. There are even more events in our 2011 Summer guide!

U.S. Democrats recognize the Holodomor as genocide

It’s not a federal law like their Canadian counterparts were able to do almost two years ago, but the Democrats in the US have passed a resolution recognizing the Holodomor as genocide:

Last Saturday, at its Winter Meeting, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) adopted a Resolution “Honoring the Holodomor victims, survivors and their families.”

The DNC expressed its “sympathies to the victims, survivors and families affected by Holodomor” and expressed support for the construction of the monument honoring Holodomor as authorized by Congress and signed into law as P.L. 109-340.

“On behalf of the Ukrainian-American community, we would like to extend our heart-felt thanks to the DNC members for their sensitivity to this issue.  We are grateful that Democrats understand the importance of recognizing an event such as Holodomor and its role in preventing future atrocities and genocide.”
Read the rest of the article

The full text of the law P.L. 109-340 reads:

Resolution Honoring the Holodomor Victims, Survivors and Their Families

WHEREAS, the Holodomor (Famine-Genocide) in Ukraine, perpetrated by the totalitarian government of the Soviet Union and its dictator Joseph Stalin in 1932-33 was one of the greatest crimes in history;

WHEREAS, the Soviet Government deliberately seized the entire grain harvest in Ukraine during the final phase of Stalin’s collectivization policy in the First Five Year Plan;

WHEREAS, this action resulted in widespread starvation throughout the countryside in Soviet Ukraine;

WHEREAS, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the borders of Ukraine sealed to prevent anyone from escaping the man-made starvation;

WHEREAS, the deliberate starvation of the Ukrainian population in the countryside was accompanied by mass arrests, executions and deportations to Siberia of thousands of people from Ukraine’s cultural, political and religious sectors;

WHEREAS, the Soviet government manipulated and censored foreign journalists to prevent news of the man-made famine from being communicated to the world;

WHEREAS, New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty knowingly denied the existence of the famine, even as he privately said the Famine had claimed as many as 10 million victims;

WHEREAS, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin used the same number of victims when he told

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill about his campaign to impose collectivization;

WHEREAS, Holodomor scholar Robert Conquest conservatively estimates 7 million victims of the Famine, including those of non-Ukrainian nationalities;

WHEREAS, the 1988 Report to Congress of the United States Commission on the Ukraine Famine estimates that upwards of 8 million or more victims of the Holodomor;

WHEREAS, after exhaustive study the United States Commission on the Ukraine Famine concluded that the victims of the Holodomor were “starved to death in a manmade famine” and that “Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against Ukrainians in 1932-33”;

WHEREAS, on November 8, 2008 the Ukrainian Parliament (Rada) determined the Holodomor to be a deliberate policy of Genocide against the Ukrainian nation, orchestrated by Joseph Stalin and the Soviet government;

WHEREAS, on October 13, 2006 the President of the United States signed into law P.L.109-340 authorizing the Government of Ukraine to “establish a memorial on Federal land in the District of Columbia to honor the victims of the Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-33”;

WHEREAS, the U.S. House of Representatives on September 23, 2008 passed H.Res.1314 to commemorate the 76th Anniversary of the Holodomor with 7-10 million victims;

WHEREAS, President Barack Obama recognized the 76th Anniversary of Holodomor Remembrance Day stating that “remembering the victims of the man-made catastrophe of Holodomor provides us an opportunity to reflect upon the plight of all those who have suffered the consequences of extremism and tyranny around the world. We hope that the remembrance of Holodomor will help prevent such tragedy in the future;”

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that The Democratic National Committee extend its sympathies to the victims, survivors and families affected by the Holodomor and join the Ukrainian-American community and its friends in condemning the atrocity perpetrated by the Soviet Government and encouraging appropriate commemoration of this crime and its victims, including construction of the monument authorized by the Congress of the United States and signed into law by the President as P.L. 109-340

Congrats to everyone who made it possible.

Wladimir Klitschko going out with Heroes’ Hayden Panettiere

From the LA Times:

World heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko has been spotted by People magazine lounging on the beach and attending the Golden Globes with “Heroes” star Hayden Panettiere, spending the last month-plus in Los Angeles as he prepares for a busy year of fighting.

In a Wednesday telephone conversation with The Times, Klitschko, 34, said he and Panettiere have enjoyed dining and taking in shows in Hollywood, downplaying the connection at first — “that’s an old story” — but when he was asked if he was in love, he answered, “Yes, I am.”

Inspired to join the A-list?

“As heavyweight champion of the world, I think it’s automatic that I’m already there, right?” Klitschko asked.

Pause.

“I rely on my own

performance to get there, not on gossip,” he said. “It’s all good with us, but I’d like to rely on my own performance to be noticed, not by who I’m with.”

Klitschko (55-3, 49 KOs) would like that notoriety to include a July 2 bout against Britain’s World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion David Haye,

If Haye doesn’t happen, Klitschko said he will fight Poland’s former world cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek in September at a new soccer stadium in Poland. If Klitschko-Haye gets made, then it’ll be WBC champion Vitali vs. Adamek.

“We’re a team,” WBO and IBF champion Wladimir said of his brother. “We’ll unify all the heavyweight titles under our family’s name and that’s our goal for this year.”

Klitschko invited his Southland fans to come watch him fight overseas.

“My brother had a day named after him on the official Los Angeles calendar; we both live out here a bit and my girlfriend’s from here,” he said.

Read the rest of the article

What can I say – I’m jealous!