City Times Staff

Polkas, pierogi and ponczkas will be all the rage at the return of the annual Dozynki Harvest Festival.

This year’s festival is on Sunday, Sept. 17, and runs from 10:30 AM to 6 PM at the Moose Family Center, 1025 2nd St North. Admission is $12 per person, but any child who shows up in traditional Polish costume will be admitted for free.

Dozynki comes from the Polish word meaning “to harvest or reap” and is held after each year’s harvest — a Polish Thanksgiving of sorts.

The festival begins at St. Stephen’s Church, 1401 Clark St., with a Polka mass at 10:30 AM. Parishioners can bring a harvest basket to be blessed.

Afterward, the Moose Family Center will serve a broasted chicken dinner from 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM. Traditional Polish food begins service at 1 PM with pierogis, stuffed cabbage rolls, Polish sausage and sauerkraut, along with everyone’s favorite donut: the ponczka.

Polish beer will also be available.

The Moose Center’s wooden dancefloor will see use as Chicago-based Leonard Zielinski and the D Street Band perform live polka music from noon to 6 PM.

In addition to the festival, the Polish Heritage Awareness Society of Central Wisconsin will present $14,500 in scholarships to local junior and senior students at 5 PM following the Dozynki Royalty Coronation beginning at 4:45 PM. Scholarship applications are available at www.polishheritageawareness.com.

For more information on the Dozynki Harvest Festival, visit. www.polkapowwow.com.